Winter's Victim
by MagnaAngel
Summary: After Thor takes him back to Asgard in chains and a muzzle, Loki fools them all and escapes, and goes off to find new allies to wage his own personal war on the universe. So he steps into the lair of the Fire Giants, Muspelheim, and finds more than just warriors and lava rocks. Can he let go of his tendencies to deceive, or will he let this one slip through his fingers? R/R Please
1. Prologue Chapter 1

In the beginning, there was nothing. Nothing but eternal space and emptiness. A universe ready to sustain life and allow it to thrive. The silence was deafening, and yet, there was no one to hear it. No one alive.  
Then came the thunderous roar of one being. One being that would become the ancestor of all men, gods and demons alike. With his hands and the hands of his children, Odin, Vili, and Vé, they fashioned nine realms or what we know as today as the universe.

The higher tier consisted of Asgard, the realm of the gods, Vanaheim, realm of the Vanir gods, Alfheim, realm of the light elves.

In the middle tier was Midgard, realm of the mortals, Jötunheim, the realm of the Ice Giants, and Svartalfheim, the realm of the Dark Elves.

In the lower tier, the tier forgotten by all mortals and not acknowledged by the gods of Asgard, was Nilfheim, the realm of ice and mist, Helhiem, the realm of the dead, and  
Muspelheim, the realm of the Fire Giants.

The gods of Asgard, being the most technologically advanced of all the beings in the universe, kept the peace between warring realms and would from time to time, travel to other realms to do so. They did this by means of the Biforst, a gloriously bright and burning bridge made of several colours of the rainbow, guarded by Heimdallr.

Little did the Asgardians know, that the Bifrost was a sort after commodity, and the lower tiered realms wanted it for their own. After many failed attempts, the fire Giants of Muspelheim decided that if they could not own it, then they would destroy it, cutting Asgard off from the entire universe.

As the silent war went on, the Fire Gants found allies in many other realms, and soon had a spy or ten in every realm, safe for Asgard. No matter how they tried, or how Surtr, their ruler, manipulated or threatened, the citizens of Asgard were loyal to the end to the Allfather.

That was, until Odin Allfather created his own worst enemy, in his own son. The end of Asgard was foretold by many generations, but no one would have guessed it would come at the hands of Loki Odinson, the Asgardian god of Mischief. Adopted son of Odin Allfather and the true heir to the throne of Jötunheim.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been months since Loki launched an attack on Midgard in an effort to rule it. Slowly, the warring realms got the message that Asgard was still there, doing its duty to the universe and protecting it from itself. But what surprised the realms the most was the ability of the Midgardians to defend themselves with only the help of one god.

"That is impossible. One god and a gaggle of giggling Midgardians against a Chitauri army." A fire giant, with war blackened skin, with a crown of smouldering embers said to his war council. Surtr was the ruler and king of Muspelheim.

"The Chitauri really have dropped the dragon egg for the Midgardians to pull out a victory." Another man, his skin red with hair of flames, said to Surtr's left.

"You give the Midgardians too much credit. They were led by Thor, father." A woman the size of a toddler compared to the size of the other members at the table, said to Surtr's right.  
"And Loki, well, isn't much of a fighter." She added, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the chair.

"Loki is a master magician Princess Vara. Capable of doing much more than just little tricks." The king said to his stubborn, headstrong daughter.

"Then he should stick to turning wine into snakes and leave the fighting for the real warriors." She scoffed at the weak little trickster.

She had heard stories of him from her mother. That he was the spare prince of Asgard. And now that he was scorned by his brother's ascension to the throne, rebelled against Asgard, his brother and his father.

"How many more times does Loki need to be beaten to a pulp to realise he is out-classed by his brother?" She smiled.

"This is not our concern, my king. We need to talk of much more urgent matters." The man on Surtr's left said to him.  
The king nodded solemnly and turned to his daughter.  
"You are excused." He said simply to her.  
She nodded and got up. She walked out the room and heard the heavy metal doors close behind her as she left.

She had been down this path before. Her father never discussed anything to do with their war with the Asgardians with her. He said that when her time came, if it came, that the council would bring her up to speed.

Princess Vara of Muspelheim was a petite woman, with long black flowing hair and the skin tone of ashes. The looks possessed by her mother, Sinmoera, but with the red glowing eyes of her father. Being well of 5 centuries old, she was but a child in the eyes of her father. Her mother had been long dead, so long that she seldom remembered what she looked like. Whenever she felt like she was losing her mother, she would climb up to the caldera of the life giving volcano that all of Muspelheim revered, Central Volcano. She found her solace there. It was where she felt closest to her mother. She would go there today, to remember her mother and what she always said to her.

"No man can be trusted. With a heart of fire or ice, light or dark, no man is trustworthy." Her mother's words reverberated in her head as she looked into the boiling and bubbling lava below in the volcano.  
She fondled her necklace, thinking that perhaps, her mother was right.

She watched as the Central Volcano spewed its last lava for the day, which signalled the beginning of the night in their realm. She then hurriedly returned back to the safety of her palace keep. Being smaller than all the other Fire Giants was not a good thing in terms of being out in the dark alone.

Every night, the two royals of the realm would eat their dinner in the dining hall and retire to their rooms. Vara waited several hours at the royal dining table for her father to join her, but close to midnight, she decided that he wasn't coming, so she ate her meal and retired to her room.

She stared out of her balcony door, hearing the noises from the nearby barracks. A lava tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away. If only there was someone in this realm, someone who was smart and funny and ambitious. Someone to come rescue her from the mundane war council meetings and talks about her choosing a mate. Someone to show her the universe. She chuckled softly to herself. Of course not, she wasn't that lucky. This was her life and the outlook looked worse than the burned and charred landscape that greeted her every morning.  
She turned and climbed into her bed. She turned over so that she didn't have to the see the burnt orange sky that was her home. A home she hated.


	3. Chapter 3

She awoke the next morning, not to the sound of her hand maidens opening the curtains or delivering lava to wash her face, but to the sounds of shouting. She slowly raised herself out of her bed, her long black hair sweeping off to the side of her face and she listened carefully.

"NO! NEVER!" she heard her father shouting.  
She sighed and swung her feet out of the bed and onto the ground. He was surely shouting at someone for delivering a smaller than expected lava rock to warm his old, aging hands, or not enough mead. She began to quickly dress herself when her hand maiden rushed in. She slammed the door behind her, turned and looked at Vara with such terror in her eyes; Vara would have guessed the Asgardians were on their door step.

"What is it?" Vara asked her, pulling her black leather top on over her naked torso.  
The maid was too terrified to talk, but she was trying to catch her breath. Vara walked up to her and took her gently by her red shoulders.  
"Odin?" Vara asked her and she shook her head.  
Not Odin, but who else would inspire such fear. Then it hit her. She looked at the maiden with wide red eyes.  
"Thor?" Vara asked softly.  
Still the maiden shook her head. Vara sighed. Who could it be? there was no one else in any of the realms that presented such a fear to her people.  
"SPEAK ASTRID!" Vara shouted at her.

"L…Loki Odinson…" the maiden shuddered and collapsed to the ground.  
Vara stayed where she was, staring out into space, thinking. What was that insolent little charlatan doing here? She looked down at her hand maiden and saw the fear he inspired in her. But he did little to Vara. He was nothing but a magician who had to be put in his place. She turned and walked over to her silver chest at the foot of her bed. It had been fashioned for her 200th birthday by her mother. She lifted the ornately carved lid and looked inside. Lying in a neatly folded pile was leather padding worn under battle armour. Next to it the silver battle armour that was still as shiny as the day it was forged. It had never seen a real battle. Vara lifted the garments out of the chest and quickly dressed, watching to see if her hand maiden would help her, but the poor thing was so traumatised, she barely even looked up as Vara slid her sliver bladed sword into its scabbard at her side. She looked herself once in the mirror and a very strange thought flooded her mind.

'Should I wear my hair up, or down…' she thought to herself.  
She scoffed a few moments later and left it loose. She rushed towards and out the door, leaving it open.

She walked along the long dark, empty passages and followed the warring voices all the way to the throne room. She rounded a corner and saw only her father for the moment, hunched over in his throne, rubbing his right temple. Vara gasped. She had never seen her father look so tired and weary. He looked his age for the first time in his 3000 years.

"That would kill us and you know it." her father said to someone without looking up.  
She presumed it was Loki Odinson he was talking to.

"If you don't try, you'll never know." She heard a deep velvety voice chiming through the throne room.  
Vara, standing behind a pillar, rounded it slowly and the back of Loki Odinson came into view. His green and black leather outfit was all she could see. That and his golden helmet topped with sharp horns that curved back. He was carrying a short staff in his right hand, tipped with a blue gem.  
'Blue gem,' Vara thought to herself. What realm had blue gems?

"WE ARE NOT READY!" her father bellowed out into the room, making the pillar tremble slightly under Vara's hand.

"It's fine, I'm a patient man. I can wait." Loki Odinson said to her father.  
She knew that her father's guards were probably hiding in the shadows. She slowly began to move closer to the head of the throne room, hidden by the shadows herself.  
Although she had heard all sorts of terrible things about this man, and he was after all, a man, the one thing her mother warned her against, his voice was hypnotic to her.

"But I will lead your army against Asgard." He said finally, staring her father down.  
Vara stopped at the head of the room, still hiding in the shadows, looking back at Loki. The thing that struck her first was his ice blue eyes. An eye colour that was never seen in this realm. It felt like they were pulling her out of the shadows and into the light that trickled in from the high temple-like windows. She took one very noisy step out into the light and both men stopped their stare-down and looked at her. She cursed herself silently. She composed herself after a few moments and locked eyes with Loki Odinson. She took a few polished steps towards her father's side, not taking her eyes off Loki. She turned and looked at him.

"Loki Odinson. Finally, you dare show you face here." Vara said to him.  
Loki looked awestruck for a few moments but then composed himself too. He didn't expect to see anything but Fire Giants living on his inhospitable rock.

"I didn't know you re-married. I see you have a thing for mortals." Loki smiled the most charming but poison dripping smile Vara had ever seen in the palace.  
Vara felt her battle heat rising up and she hissed at Loki, the red cuts of her fire giant nature, appearing on her face, arm and lower legs, glaring against her ashen skin. All the skin that was visible had the cuts on it. Loki knew then what she was.

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE!" she shouted at him.  
Her father touched her shoulder and she withdrew herself, her cuts disappearing and her silky skin returned to normal.

"She is no mortal. She is my daughter, Princess Vara." Surtr said to Loki, standing up off his throne. He leaned heavily on Vara as he did so, scaring her even more.  
"Every bit the warrior I knew she would be." he said, holding his head high, for the last time.  
"And the heir to my throne." He said, looking down at her.  
She glanced up at him and was more shocked now than ever.

"My king… are you…" she whispered to him.

"Yes. I am Vara." He smiled at her. he then turned also that everyone in the room could hear him.  
"I, Surtr the blackened one, do on this day, hand over power and control of Muspelheim and all her armies to my one and only heir, Princess Vara. She will from this day forth be known as Queen Vara." He said loudly as a sound of talking and whispering came from the shadows.

Loki looked around, as if he didn't know they were there.  
He lifted his hands and took the crown of mashed up glowing embers off his head and slowly lowered it down onto Vara's head. The crown magically grew smaller and more feminine as it sat atop her head, with her looking up at it unbelievingly. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were large as she darted them over to her father's face.

"Father, are you sure?" she asked him.

"Yes. I am. You are ready, and I have grown weary." He said simply before handing her his black staff set in the centre with a huge clear diamond and walking off into the dark shadows she had used as cover. She watched him silently was he walked off. This could not have been happening. She must still be dreaming. That was the only explanation she could come up with. She felt like laughing and waking herself up, but somehow, she knew she wasn't dreaming. She slowly turned her attention back to the middle of the throne room. And to Loki. The other fire giants began trickling out of the shadows and looked up at her, standing uneasily in front of the throne, holding the staff like a scared child. Loki made as to defend himself against the fire giants on the floor, but they showed very little interest in him.  
They began to one by one, drop to their knees, with their right hands over their hearts.

"Long live Queen Vara." They roared unanimously.  
She lifted her staff off the ground and held it horizontal, shook her head and stepped back, falling back into the seat of the throne.

She wasn't ready for this. Not even close. She looked down and saw she was sitting on the throne. Now there was no going back. She had claimed the throne in the eyes of her people. She sighed and leaned back, trying to take it all in.

Loki smiled. This was convenient. Now he really stood a chance of getting control of the army of Muspell. She was after all a woman, and no woman could stand out against him for long. He simply had to turn on the charm and bed her. Then she would be his to control, along with her armies.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but I was in the middle of a war plan when your father walked out." Loki said, stepping closer to her.  
Her eyes panned over to his and for the moment she was so lost in what had just happened.

"…I'm sorry… but I need time to be informed of the… state of affairs on… my… realm before I make any decisions." She said half-heartedly, trying to sound as intelligent as she could.

"As excellent as that sentiment is, I need to have an answer soon. At this point in time, I'm just drifting from realm to realm, trying to fool the Asgardians." He said, stepping up to the foot of the stairs at her feet.

He stepped up onto the first step and looked her deep in her red eyes with his icy blue ones.

"Unless you're willing to grant me sanctuary. In which case, I can wait a little longer." He smiled his heart-melting smile at her.  
She thought about it for a little while. She didn't know how long it would take for her war council to inform her about all the relevant information that she needed to know. And keeping him here in the palace might not be such a bad thing. Keep your enemies closer, was the voice that rang out in her head.

"Of course. Please prepare a room for Loki Odinson. He will be staying with us indefinitely." She ordered her army of housekeepers. A few of them scurried off to go find a room for him.

'That was easy.' Loki thought to himself, smiling at the striking woman.


	4. Chapter 4

The maids prepared a room for him and he moved in, eager to carry on working on her.

"Your majesty." Her father's advisor stepped up to her, still sitting shell shocked on the throne.  
She supposed he was her advisor now. A little old man that was almost as old as her father. She turned and looked at him with a glazed over expression on her face. She was still in shock, nothing the other Fire giants had ever seen before. She had never expected this. She wondered if anyone did. Her father had sat on the throne of Muspelheim for as long as she could remember, for as long as the Central Volcano could remember if it could relay words, and now, suddenly, at the arrival of Loki Odinson, her father had relinquished the throne to her. A show of kindness in his old age, or was he throwing her into the line of fire. It wouldn't be the first time. Her mind drifted to the huge scar that marred her silky skin on her lower abdomen. The one no one but her and her hand maiden knew of.

"If I may…" Loki said, stepping up to her.  
The guttural growls of the council were evident in the room as he did. He looked around the room and then to her advisor.  
"She's in shock. She just needs to be brought back." he said, turning his attention to Vara.  
He knelt down, as to look into her eyes.  
"Your majesty, are you there?" Loki whispered to her in the silkiest voice she had ever heard.  
She turned her head and looked at him. The glaze slowly disappeared and she blinked, looking him right in the eye, his ice blue eyes. He smiled, seeing he had succeeded in bringing her back. He already had some kind of hold over her.

"Ahem…" her advisor cleared his throat and she looked at him.  
"What shall we do about him? Guard him, escort him at all times?" he asked Vara, referring to Loki as if he wasn't there.  
Loki frowned at him; clearly annoyed at the low regard he was given just having brought their queen back. She took a moment to think, but then she shook her head slowly, and looked back up at her advisor.

"No, he has free rein. He can go anywhere he wishes, just not the weapons vault." She said and turned to Loki.  
"You're not allowed in the weapons vault. If I catch you there, the wrath of a thousand scorned women will rain down on your head. Do you understand?" she threatened him.  
Loki smiled and made a slight bow.

"I would expect nothing less from you." He smiled at her and stepped down from the throne podium.

'What was that, a… compliment… really, so soon and he's already complimenting me. How confident… too confident.' She thought to herself as she blinked in the sudden realization of what he was saying.

"You're… you're dismissed. You may retire to your room." She said, pointing to one of her maids to show him to his room.  
He nodded and bowed to her yet again, before heading off after the maid. Vara slunk back into her chair and sighed heavily.  
"Have someone follow him at all times. I want to know what he does, every minute of everyday." She said, before looking at her advisor.  
"Also, increase the number guards outside the vault by 100% and place four inside the vault." she said, looking at the doorway Loki had disappeared into.  
"He's here for a reason. Let's find out what it is." She informed her advisor, who bowed and ran off to execute her orders.  
She had to protect that chest at all costs. She reached up and touched the necklace her mother gave her and remembered her words.  
"No man can be trusted with such destructive powers." She said softly to herself.

When the room was empty and she was left alone, she stood up and looked up at the large diamond that was embedding in her father's… her, staff. She had never thought to touch the staff, let alone sit on the throne of the realm. She had so many responsibilities. To her people, to the people of the other realms to keep her people peaceful, to keep Laevateinn out of the hands of men. She didn't know if she could do it. She sighed to herself, stood up off the throne and walked off to her room. She had no choice now but to lead them.  
Her hand maiden was there, waiting for her. Vara walked in and found the young girl looking at the ground. She stopped and looked at the top of her head that was exposed to her.

"Nothing is going to change. You don't need to bow to me." Vara said, closing her bedroom door.  
She sighed and walked over to her bed and set her staff down on it. She reached back to the strap that held her armour on and she couldn't reach it. She looked back at it and then at her hand maid.  
"Help me with this damn armour." she said softly to the hand maid.  
The maid rushed up to her and began to undo the armour. It was heavy and uncomfortable to Vara, having never worn it. She held her breath as the maid began to peel the armour off her skin. She took in a deep breath as soon as the breast plate was off. Vara undid the strap that held her war skirt on and dropped it to the floor. She slipped into her normal clothes, a black, light silk-like one shoulder crop top and pair of long black leggings and looked at her hand maid.

"Thank you. You can go now." Vara said sweetly to her.  
The maid nodded and stepped back.

"Is there anything I can bring you, my queen?" she asked Vara.  
Vara frowned and thought for a moment that she should celebrate.

"Bring me some honey mead." She said to her before the maid rushed off.  
She walked out to her balcony and looked out over her burned and dark realm. She had to find a way to help her people through these hard times. Up until this point, she didn't know just how bad it really was for her people. But she would soon find out.


	5. Chapter 5

After a few hours, she was informed that the council was ready to bring her up to speed on the affairs of the realm and the people. She got dressed in her formal regalia, picked up her staff, placed her crown on her head and made her way down to the council room that was adjacent to the throne room on the left. She got to the large black metal doors and the guards opened them for her. She walked in to see the entire council gathered, standing on their feet waiting for her. As soon as she took a step into the room, they bowed and waited for her to walk over to the head of the table. She reached the huge black chair made of Hematite. She moved in front of it and sat down, followed by the rest of the council.

"Okay. Tell me what I need to know." She said, setting her staff down on the table in front of her.

The one member stood up and walked over to the book racks behind him and took out several scrolls. He then came back and laid them open in front of Vara.

"In terms of the war with the Asgardians… we're getting nowhere." He admitted to her.  
She sighed and leaned back.

"What was my father's plan?" she asked her advisor.

"That's exactly the problem my queen, he didn't have one." he admitted to her.  
She gasped and looked at the bronze table top.

"3000 years, and he came up with nothing." She said, looking back at him.

"Asgard is impenetrable. Out off all the expedition crews we've sent there, not one member has returned." He explained to her.  
She nodded and looked at the plans.

"Why are we at war with them anyway?" she asked him, turning to look at him.  
The men all looked at each other as if she was telling a bad joke. Then they looked at her face and saw that she was serious.

"The Bifrost, we've always wanted it." her advisor said.

"We… or my father." She said, standing up and walking over to the window.  
"I never understood his obsession with the rainbow bridge anyway." She said, folding her arms over her chest.

"With the Biforst, we can travel to other realms; bring in more food for our people." Her advisor said to her and she scoffed at him. She turned to face him.

"By going to war?" she asked, walking slowly up to him.  
"There will be no one left to feed when we succeed." She said, sitting back down.  
"If we succeed." She added.  
Her mind turned to more urgent matters.

"How much food do we have?" she asked him.  
They looked at each other again and their faces became bleak.

"Not much, your majesty." Her advisor said sadly.  
Then another man stood up to her left.

"I am the representative of the people here, your majesty." He said, bowing to her.  
"The food reserves are low and we are already beginning to see the bottom of the barrel, so to speak." He said.  
She turned to face him more head on.

"Carry on." She urged.

"Only the richest of the people can afford food, let alone mead. The poor are starving." He said sadly.  
She sat back in her chair and hung her head.

"How long has my father known about this?" she asked her advisor.

"Ten years, your majesty." He said softly.

"TEN YEARS!" she shouted loudly.  
She got up and stormed around the room.

"The Asgardians banned trade with us, and we're struggling to grow anything in the lava fields." He explained quickly.

"Ten years we've been living like kings here, while the people are starving!" she shouted.  
She looked to her advisor.  
"How much food do we have in the royal stockrooms?" she asked him.

"Enough for six months." He said after looking at the newest records.

"For us or for everyone?" she asked him, walking up to him around the table.

"For… everyone." He said softly.  
She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"So, what are you still doing here? Ration the food and distribute it." she ordered him.

"Your majesty, that is our reserve for war, without it, if anything happens…" he said, shuddering at the thought of the royals dieing of starvation.

"This is war." She said, walking around to her chair again.  
"My people are dying, and I get to drink mead every night." She said to him, sitting down.  
"Go. Tell them it's a gift from their queen." She said to him.  
He nodded and walked off.

"It's an honourable sign your majesty, but it's a temporary solution." The people's representative said to her.

"I know. I'll think of something." She nodded to him.  
"Now, next." She ordered the council.

Over the next three days, they informed her about everything that was wrong with the realm. There were very few things as bad as the famine in the realm. Arguments and quarrels, but the food shortage was a glaring ember in the dark. It was the one major issue that would bring Muspelheim to her knees if not solved soon.  
Loki, concealed by his magic, was present for the council meeting in the chamber. He now knew exactly how to get her to attack Earth. Her people meant the world to her. He would use that love.

Later, on the night of third day that Loki had been there, and after finally hearing everything that was wrong with the realm, she went to see her father. He was in his solace seeking place, the mausoleum of his wife and Vara's mother. She walked into the beautiful white marble tomb situated just outside the palace's back entrance and found him sitting next to the carved sarcophagus, on the seat. She walked up to him and saw that he was looking at the lid. She looked over to it herself and smiled. Her mother's visage, fine, delicate and caring, was carved by master hands and precision tools to the point that it looked just like her, even after 200 years.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Vara said softly, not looking at her father.

"It was my problem to try and solve." He said simply to her, looking over at her and then looking back at her mother.

"But you didn't, and now it's mine to solve, or fail by." She said, looking at her staff and twirling it in her hand.

"You won't fail." He said, standing up.  
He turned and looked at her. He then placed a massive hand on her petite shoulder.  
"I have faith in you." He said, before walking off.  
Vara watched him take his leave and when he was gone, she turned and looked to her mother.

"I know, he's a stubborn old man." She said, sitting down in the same spot her father had.  
She would often talk to her mother, unsure if she could hear her or not.  
"There is only one solution." She said, leaning on the sarcophagus lid and looking at the closed eyes of her mother.  
"I need to go to Asgard, convince them to lift the sanctions." She said not hearing the footsteps walking into the mausoleum.

"That would be a bad idea." Someone said from the entrance of the room.  
Vara lifted her head off the sarcophagus and looked towards the entrance. Two horns became evident immediately in the silhouette.

"This place is sacred, Loki, you're not welcome here." she said standing up and in an instant, assumed her proper stature.

"Oh come now, we're alone now. We don't need to pretend anymore." He said, walking up to her side and taking his helmet off, setting it down on the seat.

"This is very forward of you." Vara said with a slight blush evident on her cheeks.

"If we don't move forward…" He smiled that charming smile again and sat down on the seat.  
"Who's she?" he asked, referring to the caved sarcophagus lid with a gesture of his nodding head.

"My mother." She said simply, sitting down beside him.  
He didn't need to know her name.  
"Excuse me if I don't take my crown off in the presence of a trickster." She said, looking over at his face.  
He chuckled slightly and a smile broke out over his chiselled features.

"You're forgiven." He smiled and looked over at her, catching the gaze of her red eyes.  
She gasped slightly and looked away, having seen the blue of his eyes up close. They seemed even more mesmerising up close.  
"It was clearly a shock for you." He said looking at her.  
She was getting flustered around him. That was good news for him.

"No, she's been dead for 200 years, but she did die suddenly." she said, looking at her mother's face, forgetting her teachings.  
Loki chuckled again and Vara looked over at him with a disgusted look on her face.  
"What is so funny?" she asked him.

"Not your mother's death, I meant your ascension to the throne." He smiled and looked at her again.  
This time she held his gaze a little longer.

"…Yes… it was, a shock, I mean." She stuttered and stumbled over her words.  
She looked away, beginning to fidget with her staff that she laid horizontal on her lap.  
"He never once spoke about stepping down, until you showed up." She said, looking back at him.

"Surely you knew it was coming, you are his only heir." He said to her.  
She shook her head, bit her lip and looked down at her staff.

"No, my father is immortal, as your father is." She said, tilting her head to look at him.  
Father, that word stung in Loki's heart like a heated spear, but he hid his pain well.  
"He would rule forever. He even said it a few times." she chuckled.  
"So yeah, it was a shock." She nodded and admitted to him.  
He nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments, till he looked back at her profile. She looked nothing like the other Fire Giants. Her features were fine and delicate, like the woman carved on the lid of the sarcophagus.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked her, shifting slightly, to face her more head on. She looked at him, not meeting his eyes and nodded.  
"Do I scare you?" he asked her, clasping his hands together and placing them in his lap.  
She looked at him and rolled her eyes.

"No…" she said, leaning back against the seat and sliding down, as a teenager would.  
"I can't say the same for my hand maid. You scared the living lava out of her." she chuckled and looked up at him.  
He chuckled and looked at her. She seemed to be very young, or at least she carried herself like that. Also, he noticed she was getting more comfortable with him, sitting in a way that left her open to attack.

"Why?" he asked.  
She looked at him and frowned, and gestured with her hand for him to elaborate in a rolling fashion.  
"Why don't I scare you?" he asked.  
She nodded and clasped her hands over her stomach and pursed her lips, thinking. She couldn't tell him that she thought he was s two bit second rate warrior who hid behind his magic, she had to be diplomatic.

"Magic… magic doesn't scare me." she said, nodding at her answer.  
He nodded and looked at his staff, topped with the blue Mind Gem that was gifted to him in his princely days.

"You know I'm not a magician, right?" he said, darting his eyes over to her.

"You haven't given me any other evidence to demonstrate that." She looked over at him.  
He frowned and turned his head slightly, a slight grin breaking out over his lips.

"Are… are you challenging me to a fight?" he asked her.  
She shrugged and sat forward.

"I would, but one doesn't fight their guests." She smiled at him.  
His heart stopped for a split second. He was sure it was the first time she had smiled at him. And what a smile it was. Like a pearl in dust, it shone in the desolation of this realm.  
"You'd lose anyway." She said, standing up and looking down at him.  
He chuckled and longed to prove her wrong, but she was right. He couldn't fight her if he needed to seduce her. She might have been a Fire Giants, but she was a woman, and all women were the same. They hated being fought with, and sooner or later, they would always win.

"You're probably right." he smiled and stood up, and grasped his helmet by one of the horns.  
"Shall I escort you back to the palace?" he asked her, charming as ever.  
She blushed slightly and smiled.

"Thank you." She nodded and looked back at the sarcophagus.  
She touched it and stared for a second, before walking off. Loki watched her as she left. He bit his lip and his eyes drifted down to her rear. She was indeed a fighter, with muscle tone like that. He then looked at the sarcophagus lid himself and walked around it, to her face. He reached up and touched the hand.

"Who would have thought that I'd have your daughter, Sinmoera?" He smiled before walking off after Vara.  
Together, they walked in silence to the palace, where they parted ways after a polite send off. Loki smiled as she round a corner to her room. His plan was working. His honeyed words were luring her into his trap. Soon, she would be so madly in love with him, she would do anything to make him happy.


	6. Chapter 6

That night, Vara found her heart and mind racing. For some reason, Loki had her so intrigued she could barely contain herself. She imagined his hands running over her skin. His touch was the one thing she craved more that air it seemed. She smiled and bit her bottom lip and began touching herself. Then she realised what she was doing, and who she was imagining doing it with and her eyes shot open. She sat up in her bed and looked around. Her room was empty.

Thank goodness, she would have hated her hand maid to see her like this. She reached behind her neck and wiped the sweat off it. She couldn't believe this man had infiltrated her mind so severely and quickly that she was dreaming about him. But then she thought back. His touch was soft and gentle, and confident. Confidence was the one trait she found the most attractive. She blushed at the thought, a rosy tone falling upon her cheeks.

"Oh Loki, how do you bewitch my mind so?" she whispered softly into the lonesomeness of her room.

Loki smiled to himself. Using his magic yet again, he had used it to conceal himself and also infiltrate her mind in reality, and placed the seductive dreams in her mind. It was an excellent idea, even if he would admit it. He looked into her red eyes, still swimming in the vision he had created and smiled. She wouldn't be able to hold out much longer now. Not now that she had a taste of his prowess in the bedroom. He stood up and warped back to his room, where the guard was waiting outside to escort him anywhere. He found that his powers would serve him well in tricking Vara into falling for him.

She lay her head back down on her pillow and tried to get some sleep, but now that the thoughts and ideas were in her mind, she dreamt of Loki that night.

The next morning, after a rushed breakfast and the war council meeting that would wake her probably every morning for the rest of her miserable life, she went to her mother's mausoleum. She checked that she wasn't being followed and rushed in before anyone could see. She walked in slowly, looking at the white stone carefully, as if her mother would jump out and scold her. She felt almost guilty for being here, with those things floating around in her mind. She sat down on the seat next to the sarcophagus and sighed, leaning back. She leant her staff against the sarcophagus' side and sighed.

"Oh mother, I don't know what's wrong with me." she whispered, looking at her fidgeting hands, almost trying to avoid eye contact with the craved face of her mother.  
"He's so… different… from anyone I've ever met." She added, a small smile playing over her lips.

"I know he's an Asgardian, but there's something about him." she said, shaking her head a little, trying to think what it could be.  
"He's not like Thor, or Odin. Or even you." She smiled at the carving.  
"But I know its wrong, these thoughts… wishes. He's not like me." she said, leaning her head back on the wall.

"Yesterday, I hated him and today…" she stopped and thought of what she felt for Loki in reality.  
"I don't know, I don't hate him so much anymore." She smiled again.

"He's… he's just different." she said, leaning forward and locking her fingers in with each other.  
"You used to say that a man with a heart of fire or ice can't be trusted. He's neither, so does that mean I can trust him?" she asked, looking over at the sarcophagus.

"I think I'm supposed to test his trustworthiness. But I don't know how. I don't know him well enough to know whether I can tell if he's lying or not." She said.  
"But he is known as the god of mischief." She nodded, as if answering herself.

"Okay, I get it. I must get to know him better. Then I'll be able to tell." She said, standing up. She grasped her staff and smiled at her mother.  
"Thanks, you're a great help." she said, before walking off.

She was late for her next appointment. She was going to be personally handing out food to the lower classed Fire Giants in the realm. Everyone had been told that they were to gather at the barracks and there, they would be handing it out. She walked into the barracks to find it was already packed to the rafters with the poorest of the poor Fire Giants. They all stopped their bickering and looked at her.

She looked around and as if it was a unanimous decision, they all launched at her. They were too quick for her to think, let alone act. She closed her eyes and held her staff up to her face to fend them off when a blue orb formed around her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at it.

"You should really pay closer attention." Loki said from beside her.  
She caught his gaze and was spellbound as she always was, but this time, her gaze was accompanied by a rosy blush in her cheeks. She then heard the pounding on the orb. She turned and looked at her own people, fighting to get at her.

"Can I give you a little piece of advice?" Loki said and she nodded quickly, turning her attention back to him.  
"You need to make them respect you and your position as their ruler." He said, looking at the red eyes of the Giants trying to get in at them.  
"You need to make them fear you and your powers." He said, looking back at her.  
He nodded to the diamond in her staff.  
"Surely that's not just a normal diamond, right?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

"Use it. They need a show of dominance." He smiled at her, urging her to give into her Giant nature and control her people.

She nodded and stepped forward within the orb.

"When I tell you, drop the shield." She said, looking at her furious people.

She held up her staff and dug her feet into the charred ground. She would need a lot of leverage for what she was going to next. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. The diamond in her staff began to glow and it caught the attention of everyone attacking her. They stopped pounding on the shield and looked at each other. Then the ground began to rumble and they all looked down. Little cracks began to appear on the black surface, and then the little cracks deepened, exposing the red hot lava flowing underneath it. Even though they were Fire Giants, no one wanted to tangle with the red hot lava that the diamond controlled. They could still be burnt by the liquid rock, and encased in rock if they got enough of it on them.  
Vara opened her eyes and smiled as everyone started to move back away from her.

"Now Loki." She smiled, the red cuts of her father appearing on her face, giving away her nature as a Fire Giant.

He smiled and dropped the shield. As soon as he did, the people ran from her for their lives. Before, the shield was keeping them out, but as soon as she began to control the lava, it began a protection shield for the Giants, keeping her in and away from them.

"How dare you?" she said, the little streams of lava breaking out through the black rock and floating up as if in zero gravity.  
The streams began to gather around her, forming a shield of her own.  
"How dare you attack me, your queen?" she said in a soft but threatening voice.  
She took a step forward and then the screaming started.  
"SILENCE!" she shouted and the barracks fell into deathly silence at her command.  
"Here I am, trying to offer you salvation, giving you the last of the food in my own personal store." She said, lifting her hand to her chest and looking around.  
"And you repay me by attacking me." she said, slowly looking around the courtyard.  
"You will give me the respect you gave my father, or I will have you fed to the Central Volcano." She said, looking back in the other direction.  
"Or I might just send the volcano to come get you, or your family, your children." She added, and the courtyard almost broke out in crying from the women.

Loki looked at her and gave a little smirk. He had thought she didn't have the killer instinct up till this stage. But he was obviously wrong. She was a Fire Giant.

"I will not be a harsh ruler, but break my laws, and you will be punished severely. If you live by them, I will be fair and merciful. But know this…" she said looking around the courtyard again.  
"I will not give second chances." She said.  
"But this will be the first and only time I will grant you that choice." She said, blinking and allowing the lava to flow back into the cracks and harden up.  
"These are my conditions. Bow to me, or face the consequences." She said, standing right again, looking at her people.

They looked around at each other and soon, one Giant went down on one knee, his heart over his heart. Soon after that, everyone else followed, even the Giants queuing outside waiting for food.  
She turned to Loki, who gave her a bow and smile. She smiled back at him, the blush evident on her face.  
She then turned her attention back to her people.

"Now, please, stand in line and let the warriors help you with your rations." She smiled at her people, showing her she wasn't all bad.  
She turned to Loki as soon as everyone began to do as they were told.  
"How did you know they would respond like that?" she smiled at him.  
"I have some experience dealing with, um…" he said, clearing his throat and moving closer to her.  
He moved closer to her ear and leaned down to whisper in it.  
"Underlings." He whispered to her.

She blushed and looked at his bare exposed neck. She so longed to kiss it. But she didn't want to burn him.  
She saw her advisor looking at the two of them and she pulled back away from him.

"They're not underlings." She corrected him.

"They're not royalty, thus, everyone under you, are underlings." He smiled at her, stepping back, having seen that he was moving to quickly and scaring her off.  
"Makes sense, yes?" he smiled.

"Yes…" she said quickly before thinking.  
"I mean, no. They are my people, and must be treated with respect." She said, looking out over the barracks.

"Oh, you can treat them with respect, just so long as they fear you." He smiled and waited to see her reaction, before walking off.

She nodded, but then she realised what he had said. She frowned and looked to him, but he was gone. She walked out towards the exit and saw him walking away from the barracks. She rushed out after him. Her advisor had control here.

"What do you mean they must fear me, did you know I would react like that?" she shouted at him.

He looked back at her and smirked at her, but he said nothing, just kept walking back towards the palace.

"You did, but how?" she shouted again after him.

"Giants, you're all the same." He said simply to her as they entered the palace.

"No we're not." She said, walking after him.

"You are." He said, turning and looking at her.  
"Once threatened, you react in the most aggressive way you can possibly muster." He smiled.

She was taken aback. How did he know her like that? She hadn't spent more than an hour in total in his presence.

"How did you know that, you've never been here before?" She said to him.  
He walked up to her and she stood her ground. He looked into her red eyes and smiled.

"Maybe not in the 550 years that you've lived." He smiled at her.

She was angry at him and she was seduced by him all at the same time. He saw she was getting more and more flustered.

"Besides, I have had many dealings with the Frost Giants. You're just like them, just the opposite element." He smiled.

Now he had said too much. She stepped towards him and he saw her coming closer. He didn't know what would happen to him if he was touched by a Fire Giant, so he back away from her, but not by much.

"We are nothing like those frozen excuses of Giants." She said in her soft threatening voice again.

"See. There you go again." he pointed out to her.

She made to shout at him, but he was right. She always reacted in the same way. She stopped and closed her mouth, drawing back.  
She wanted to tell him he was right, but then it would make it a reality. She instead looked at him with her shocked expression on her face. Then she met his eyes. And all was forgiven.

"Just don't say that again. I don't like acting like that." She admitted to him.  
He felt a stirring in his heart. He frowned and covered it quickly before she could see it.

"It's in your nature. It's wrong to deny it." he said soothingly to her, his voice became soft and innocent, just for a second.

He wondered what he was feeling. He hadn't felt anything since before his trip to earth.

"Half my nature. I'm only half Fire Giant." She said to him.  
"Please don't tell anyone, or they will revoke my right to the throne." She said to him.  
He smiled and longed for a second to touch her, to comfort her, but he was afraid of what might happen to him, being a Frost Giant.

"Your secret is safe with me." He smiled and said softly.

She nodded and then there was this awkward silence between them. He had never experienced anything like this before. He was always in control of everything and nothing ever took him by surprise. He wondered if his plan wasn't backfiring on him.

"You've had a harsh day. Perhaps you should go have a lie down." He suggested to her.  
She nodded and looked at him.

"Yes. Perhaps." She said, walking off past him and heading towards her room.

Loki watched her leave and he felt a sudden lurch in his stomach. He turned and frowned. He wondered what was wrong with him. He knew that he was willing to do anything to get her to fall for him, so that he could control her army and her. But he didn't expect to fall for her for real.

No, that couldn't be it. This was strictly business. He didn't have time for romancing and love. He doubted he could ever love again, not after his father and brother broke his heart. He couldn't give something away that was wrecked and battered.

She unknowingly listened to him, going to her chambers and taking a rest. She had no idea why he got to her so much. He enraged and fascinated her, but was he right. In that moment when she threatened the lives of her people, was she giving into her Giant nature? She turned over and looked out over the realm from her patio door.

How did he know of the nature of Giants? She had heard of his little trip to Jötunheim just before his brother was banished to Midgard, but surely, he could not have learnt all he knew about Giants from a single ten minute trip.  
No, he must have had other dealings with Giants. She sat up in her bed as the thought suddenly exploded in her mind.

"He's a spy…" she whispered to herself, realizing he was either a spy, or had other, intimate knowledge of Giants.

"No, he's definitely a spy." She shook the last option from her head in a swift shake.

"Loki…" she said softly, thinking he might be outside her room like the little sneak he was. Nothing happened.

"LOKI!" she bellowed, almost as loudly as her father had when he met with Loki last.


	7. Chapter 7

Loki was in his room, working on his plan again, making sure there was no way it could go wrong, when he heard her calling for him. He rushed to the door and down the hall to her chambers. He didn't know why he rushed. Was it concern for the welfare of the plan, or her?  
He barged into her room and saw her sitting up in her bed.

"What is it princess?" he asked, stepping into her room, for, as far as she knew, the first time.  
She looked at him, the red cuts in her skin clearly visible again in her anger. She hopped out of her bed like a cat and strode up to him, not bothering to pull her leather skirt down to cover her legs, trusting gravity to do it for her. Loki looked down and caught a glimpse of her silky thigh as she walked up to him. He couldn't help but blush slightly, forgetting momentarily that she was probably highly volatile in that moment.

"What are you doing here, really?" she asked him, placing her hands on her hips, and waiting for an answer.

"Ex… excuse me?" he asked, looking up to meet her eyes.  
She gasped at the sight on his blue eyes again, but kept her bearings.

"Why are you here?" she repeated herself.

"The army, obviously, didn't your council bring you up to speed?" he smirked at her, trying to be charming.

"No… I mean, yes, they did… but you're not telling the truth about you being here. There's another reason." She said, folding her arms over her chest.  
"So let's hear it." she said, waiting and slightly tapping her foot.  
He laughed and looked down at the ground, seeing and noting that she was barefoot.

"Princess, I have no hidden agendas, I wish only to help you and your people." He said, quickly coming up with a decent cover story.

"Help my people," she frowned at him.  
"With my army, pray tell, how are you going to do that?" she mocked him and his fake plan. She was good; he was going to have to make it sound more convincing.

"The famine." He said simply, looking at her. She was shocked that he had picked it up so quickly. She was hoping he would think the ration handout was a regular thing.  
"All the other realms know about it. They all know you're struggling." He said, feeling the urge to touch her shoulder, to make it sound and looked more convincing, of course. But he still didn't know what would happen to him if he did.

"They… they know?" she whispered to him, taken aback.  
He nodded.  
Her face fell and she stepped back. She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her disappointment.  
"And none of them want to help?" she asked him softly, still not looking at him.  
He stepped up next to her, closely, but he was careful not to touch her.

"None but me." he whispered to her.  
"They are afraid of you and your people. They know that if you to were reach your full power, no realm could stand against you and the universe will fall to you." He whispered to her in his silky voice.  
She nodded, seeing the reason in his reasoning. They were only at about 30% and they could put up a good fight now. He was right, if they had enough sustenance, they could take the entire universe.

"Does Odin know?" she asked, looking slightly at him out of the corner of her eye.  
Loki nodded.

"That's why going to Asgard would be a mistake. It would be like walking into the lions den. You wouldn't make it out." He said, the anger for his father bubbling up again.  
"He would take you and throw you in the dungeons, and allow you to be tortured almost to death." He said, venom dripping from his silvered words.  
He looked out over the landscape, then back at her. She seemed too delicate to be living in these conditions. How was it that a rose like her survived here?  
"Death would be too merciful." He added, seeing a little red lava drop run down her cheek. She looked down at the ground and it fell onto the floor. It solidified and turned to a little black rock. She loosened it with her foot and kicked it off the edge of the patio.

"Then we've been sentenced to a slow death." She whispered to him.

"No, not necessarily." He said softly to her.  
"There are thousands of realms that not even Odin knows about." He smiled at her. She looked up at him in bewilderment.

"No, you're lying." She said to him.  
Everyone had grown up with the notion that there were only nine realms. Loki had to be lying.

"No, I'm not." He smiled his charmers smiled.  
"Due to my… abilities, I can travel through out the realms without the Biforst. And I have been the realms…" he smiled, and let his mind drift back to those times. Happier times.  
"Realms that, under careful management, could sustain you and your realm and prepare you for Ragnarök." He explained to her.

"Explain." She turned to him and wanted him to give her more details.

"Green planets, with blue water and fertile land. You could grow anything you needed for your army." He smiled. He was speaking about Midgard of course.  
She frowned and looked at him.

"Green, what is this colour, green?" she asked him.  
He frowned and looked at her face for signs that she was joking. There wasn't any.

"You… you've truly never seen the colour green?" he smirked to her.  
She shook her head.

"No, red, orange, white, sure. But other than what you can see in the realm, nothing." She said, looking out over the landscape.  
"Even blue." She said, looking into his blue abyssal eyes.  
"I'd never seen blue, till the day you showed up." She smiled at him.  
He felt something in his gut again. Her smile was the trigger this time. He bowed a little to her, acknowledging her compliment.

"Allow me to show you what green looks like." he said, gasping his staff and activating the mind gem in the setting.  
It began to glow its hypnotizing blue and he swirled it around in the air in front of her, leaving a green smoke trail in its wake. She gasped at the colour and covered her mouth, not wanting to seem rude. She then slowly reached out and touched the green smoke, twirling it around her hand. She looked at him after a few moments and smiled the first genuine smile he had seen from her.

"It's beautiful." She giggled like a school girl, stepping into the smoke and playing around in it. He stepped back and watched her frolic, the lurch in his gut turning to butterflies as he began to have glimpses of her naked body in his mind, moving in a similar fashion as she was now. He smiled mischievously and carried on watching her until the smoke was gone and she was left smiling and beaming in front of him.

"That was completely magical." She laughed to him. The sound was like chimes to him, captivating and enchanting.

"Well, I am a master of magic." He said, stepping up to her.

"Yes you are." She smiled up at him.  
They stared at each other for a few moments and she felt her face flush red at the intensity of his stare into her eyes. Into her soul. He felt just as uncomfortable in that moment, his blood running cold at the thought of kissing her. For a Frost Giant, that was a good thing, but for him, it was dire. Catastrophic. He needed to bed her eventually, but only after her had figured out was what going on here, and could he do it and go through with the plan. He broke the gaze as soon as he saw her blushing and stepped back.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, looking down at the ground, letting his guard slip momentarily.  
"I don't know what came over me." he said, looking up at her.  
"I need to go now." he said, looking back down, not meeting her blood red eyes.  
"Am I dismissed?" he asked her.  
She blinked quickly, not knowing what had just happened. He was acting strange suddenly, and she didn't feel well at all too. She felt, light. Too light.

"Yes. You are." She said to him.  
He nodded and turned, before walking away from her. When he got to the door, she called to him.  
"Loki…" she said softly to him, with the first touch of kindness he had heard in a long time.  
He turned and looked at her, standing alone of her patio. It took every ounce of his strength not to walk back and kiss her.  
"Thank you." She smiled at him.  
He frowned at her, confused. What was she thanking him for?

"For what?" he asked her.

"For making me feel better." She smiled at him, confused herself, but by his actions and words.  
He was acting like a bad guy. A villain.  
He nodded solemnly and walked off to his chambers.  
Surely her mother was just wrong about him. He had been nothing but kind and mindful over these past few days. He was even offering to help her help her people. She turned and looked over the landscape. She must have been wrong. He wasn't bad, he wasn't evil. He was just… misunderstood.

"Princess…" she heard her hand maid come in and close the door behind her. She turned and looked at her.  
"Was that Loki Odinson that I saw leaving your room just now?" her maid asked her.  
Vara looked at her and smiled.

"Yes, why?" she asked, smiling like a lovesick fool at the mention of his name.  
Her maid saw it immediately and slowly walked up to her.

"Did, did he touch you?" she asked Vara.  
Vara frowned and looked at her, confused.

"No, he never touched me, why?" she asked her maid.  
Her maid looked her up and down to see if her clothes had been put on in a hurry. She had to be lying. A smile like that only came from a fool in love. Her clothes were fine and not out of place.

"He never touched you?" she asked Vara again.

"No, Astrid, he never touched me." Vara frowned and walked past her to just get away from the glaring light in the questioning booth.  
Astrid turned and watched her walk away from her. Her body would give her signs if she had been with Loki. There were no signs that she had been.

"Why are you so worried?" Vara turned and confronted her.

"My queen, I care only for your welfare." Astrid said to her, walking up to her and taking hold of her hands in her own.  
"You have been my best friend of hundreds of years, Vara. I want to know if you've been with him." Astrid begged her friend.

"Been with him, what do you mean, been with him?" Vara asked, looking confused at her friend.  
Astrid recoiled and looked at Vara's face. She wasn't joking. She had no idea what she was talking about.

"Has you father never given you 'the talk'?" Astrid asked her softly.  
This was slightly embarrassing. The last thing she wanted for the realm to know their queen didn't know about sex.  
Vara smiled and shook her head.

"My father isn't one for talking, unless you haven't noticed." She smiled Astrid.  
Astrid sighed and let go of her hands. She walked over to the door and closed it. She locked it. She walked over to the bed and tapped the top of it beside her.

"Come sit with me. Let me explain everything to you." Astrid said to Vara, looking back at her.  
Vara was slightly confused but she did as she asked anyway. She sat next to her old friend and frowned at her.

"What's this all about?" Vara asked her.

Astrid sighed and began to explain everything to Vara. It was clear from her first reactions that this was completely new to her and she had no idea there was anything going on between her and Loki. But everyone in the palace had seen it beginning to develop.

Loki went back to his room and began to examine what these feelings could be. He even came up with a plan B in case what he was feeling came to a head and became a reality. That was strange for him. He never had a plan B. He realised one thing, during his scribbling. If he did have feelings for Vara, he had to keep her away from Asgard and out of Odin and Thor's clutches. To hurt him, they would make her hurt in unimaginable ways. They could never know about his feelings for her, if that was in fact what they were.


	8. Chapter 8

For a few hours Astrid explained to her in great detail what was what and how everything worked, hoping to scare her into abstinence more than anything else. Vara listened intently, pulling faces every now and then, and when Astrid was finished, she got up and walked back to the spot where the green smoke had been.

"So these, feelings…" she began to intellectualise.  
"They are telling me I like him?" she asked, turning to Astrid, who was still sitting on the bed. She got up and walked over to Vara.

"Not only that you like him, that there is chemistry between you two, and you want him." Astrid explained to her.  
Vara turned to her and gasped.

"I want him… these feelings are telling me I want him to do to me what you just explained?" she questioned her wildly and furiosly.  
"No, it can't be. That, what you just told me, was horrifying." She exclaimed, walking past her and sitting back down on the bed.

"It only seems like it, the explanation can be quite scary, but you'll see when you're in that moment, you know nothing, and it's not so scary." Astrid comforted her.

"In that moment, with Loki. No. Never. He's not a Giant." Vara said to her friend.  
"How will it look if I marry someone else from another realm? Let alone an Asgardian." She said to her friend.

"Vara," Astrid said, sitting beside her friend again.  
"You have been courted by many, many men, and you've turned them all away. Why?" she asked Vara.  
Vara had to think about that a little. She looked away and ran through the ordeal in her head.

"There was just something, wrong. They did nothing for me." she said, looking back at Astrid.

"Loki has been her for three days, and you're getting all the right feelings." Astrid smiled and pointed out to her.

Vara nodded slowly. She was right. Maybe she was beginning to develop feelings for Loki.

"Here's the acid test." Astrid said to her suddenly. Vara looked at her, waiting.  
"After everything you've heard about it, after everything your mother told you about him, what you think about it? Were the things accurate? Is he evil?" Astrid asked her.  
Vara smiled, thinking about his eyes and smile.

"No, he's just… misunderstood." She whispered.  
She then looked at Astrid and frowned.  
"What does that mean?" she asked her friend.  
Astrid smiled and touched Vara's hand.

"We always make excuses for the ones we love. We never see their flaws, only the things that make us smile." Astrid explained and Vara nodded. She knew exactly what that meant. She had to get her mind off him and his smile.

"Tell me about the anatomy again." she asked Astrid.  
Astrid indulged her, knowing how her mind worked. She knew she needed a distraction.

After a few more hours of just general talking, Astrid left Vara to her sleep. Although she didn't sleep much that night. She wondered if what Astrid had told he could be true. She wondered if she could in fact be developing feelings for Loki. She guessed that if she saw him again, knowing what she knew now, she would know if she was in fact falling for him. She would have to wait and see until the next day. Or did she? She sat up in her bed and pondered her next move. Wait, or confront this issue head on? She couldn't just go barging into his room. That wasn't right, it was impolite. But this was her palace after all, and she could do whatever she wanted.

She flung her blanket off her body and stepped out onto the floor. She pulled on some light clothes and walked up to her door. She slowly opened it. It creaked and she hesitated, like a young girl sneaking off without wanting to let her father know. She opened it just enough to stick her head out. She did just that, and looked up and down the empty hall. The dull footfalls of the guards patrolling the palace were the only thing she could hear. She opened the door all the way and walked out of her room, and down the hall, to the very last room. She stopped and looked at the intricately carved black metal doors and contemplated her decision. This was the time to turn back if she wanted to. But she had to know. She reached up with a shaking hand and touched the door handle. She turned the silver knob and opened the door just a little.

"Loki, are you awake?" she whispered into the room.  
She listened and heard a few mumbles and then some papers rustling.

"I am now." he whispered back.  
She smiled involuntarily at the sound of his voice.

"May I come in?" she asked him, hoping he would say yes.

"Of course." He replied.  
She smiled and slowly pushed the door open and peeked in. He was in bed, laying propped up on his elbows, looking at her.

"What's wrong princess?" he asked her.  
She walked in and closed the door behind her. She stared at the door and took in a deep breath. She slowly turned and looked at him.

"I, just needed to come see you." She said, walking up to the bed slowly.  
All this time, she was looking at his beautiful blue eyes; she didn't stop to notice that he was shirtless. Until now. She stopped and gasped softly, seeing his slim but toned physic. The blanket hid all the other things from her. She was glad for that. She didn't know if she had the courage to see that yet.

"Princess?" he asked, getting slightly concerned. She was acting very strange. Not only that, but all the plans for this little game were hidden under his bed. If she had to see them, then all this work would be for naught.

"Queen… you keep forgetting that I'm the queen now." she said, pulling herself together and walking up to him.  
"May I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the side of the bed. He smirked and nodded. She sat down, clearly trying to keep her eyes averted from his body. It wasn't polite to stare.  
After a few moments, he shrugged and she looked into his eyes.

"So, what's this all about?" he asked her, sitting up and crossing his legs under the blanket.  
"Not that I don't enjoy beautiful women visiting me in the middle of the night." He smirked at her. She looked at him and laughed a little, before looking down at the blanket.

"I just had a very, enlightening, conversation with my hand maid." She said, nodding slightly, mostly from embarrassment, and to look like she knew what she was doing.  
He frowned at this statement. Had the maid been sniffing around in here? He would have to confront her tomorrow.

"Oh?" he said, trying to sound surprised.

"Yes." she said, looking at his eyes.  
"She told me things my mother should have told me, a very long time ago." She said, nodding to him. He caught the hint of what she was talking about and nodded back.

"Oh… okay… but that still doesn't explain why you're here." he said, trying to get to the point of the visit.

"She also told me some things that I need to explore for myself. I need to find the truth." She added, looking at him.  
"Would you mind indulging me?" she asked him.  
He didn't know what she was up to, but if she was walking about the plans, he might have to kill her. He grasped his staff under the sheet and got ready if things turned bad.

"Of course." He said, smiling at her, trying to look convincing. She smiled and inched her way closer to him.

"I just need to see if this is really what I want." She said, reaching out for his hand. He saw it coming and couldn't get away quick enough.

"Vara no!" he shouted and looked up at her.  
She was taken aback and leaned back. Had she read the signs wrong, was he just being polite and kind to her? Was the flirting just in her mind?

"I'm… I'm so sorry… I thought…" she began to whisper to him, feeling more embarrassed than ever before.

"You might burn me. I'm just an Asgardian, remember." He said to her, covering quickly for his fear of fire and ice meeting in a single touch.  
He moved closer to her, showing her that it wasn't rejecting her. Here she was, doing all his work for him. How could he turn that down?

"I just need to use a little of my magic first, to make sure you burn me to a crisp." He whispered to her.  
She looked up at him and blushed. She nodded and watched as he pulled his hand out from under the sheet. He flashed his three last fingers on his right hand, casting the spell, forming a clear, protective layer over his skin. He looked at her and smiled. He slowly lifted his hand and touched her fingers gently. She drew in a deep breath and looked up at him.  
"Continue, please." he whispered to her, placing his hand over hers.  
She smiled and leaned forward, watching his expression all the way. She didn't want to make a move and scare him off. She was also hoping he would give her some clue was to what she was supposed to do. She closed her eyes and came to within an inch of his lips. She didn't know if she had the courage to actually let them meet.

"Loki, help me." she whispered to him.  
He slowly closed the last inch between them and their lips touched softly. It was surprising, normal. She wasn't boiling hot, and her lips weren't the hard lava rocks he expected them to be. He was quite surprised at how soft they were. He slowly reached up and cupped her cheek with his one hand, drawing her into a deeper kiss. He began to try and pry her lips open, begging for her to open them for him. She pulled away slowly and looked at him, his hand still cupped around her cheek

"What are you doing with your tongue?" she asked him softly.  
He looked at her and smiled, running his other hand through her long black hair.

"Trust me. You're going to like it." he whispered, leaning forward and kissing her again.  
He once again, begged for her to open her lips for him and this time, she allowed it, parting her lips ever so slightly. He wasted no time and slipping the tip of his tongue into her mouth, expecting a burning sensation. There was none, so he plunged his tongue deeper into her mouth, but he was careful not to overwhelm her. There it was again, the kick in his gut.

She moaned softly and felt the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. Astrid was right; she did feel something for Loki.  
Just before he thought he was going to lose control and bed her right there, he pulled back, and broke the kiss. He leaned back and looked at her expression. Her eyes were closed and she didn't look too shocked. He smirked to himself, he still had it. She bit her bottom lip and tasted the last bit of him on her lips. It tasted so strange to her. She wanted more of it.

"So? Did you like that?" he asked, lifting her hand and beginning to fondle her fingers softly.  
She opened her eyes and looked at him. Her blush was clearly evident on her white skin, whereas he looked as cool as ever.  
She nodded to him.

"Yes." she whispered to him, grasping his hand softly.  
"I want more." She said, leaning forward and kissing him again, this time with more intensity. He was caught off guard, but who was he to question the wants and needs of a queen. He cupped his hand around her neck and kissed her deeply, not caring if he scared her this time. She was asking for it. She made her way over to him, wrapped her legs around his waist and softly sat down in his lap, the blanket keeping their bodies apart. She ran her hands through his black hair and moaned softly, really getting into the moment.

He broke the kiss suddenly and looked down at their current situation. He smiled and looked up at her, smirking. She leaned back and frowned.

"What are you… WHOA!" she began to say when she was lifted up slightly and violently forced back onto the bed. He pushed his staff of the edge of the bed and it clanged nosily on the stone floor, bring her into the reality of what was happening.

He wasted no time in leaning over and towering over her, his hands and arms braced next to her head dominantly.

"I don't like being underneath." He whispered and began to kiss her again. She kissed him back, unaware of just how vulnerable she was like this, in this position. He slowly lowered his body down onto her, starting with his chest, and beginning to work his way down. He broke the kiss and looked down at her, just as he lowered his hips down into the embrace of hers, pressing his weight down onto her, showing her his level of attraction.


	9. Chapter 9

She gasped suddenly and flushed bright red, feeling him brush up against her.

"Loki…" she whispered to him, out of breath for the feverish kissing.  
"I'm… I'm not ready…" she whispered to him.  
He smirked and looked down at her, not removing himself from her.

"You sought this out. You can't turn back now." he whispered, leaning down and kissing her neck. She wrapped her hand around the back of his head and embedded her fingers in his hair.

"Please, I just found out about all of this today. And… I'm scared." She whispered him.

"Of what?" he asked her, lifting his head and looking back at her face  
She thought about it for a moment.

"The unknown, I guess. I have no idea how all this works, in reality." She whispered.

"I do. Let me help you understand it." he whispered to her, running his hand down her torso slowly, stopping at the edge of her night skirt.  
"May I?" he asked her.  
She thought about it, his hand reaching down and pleasuring her, but she knew that if she allowed it, she wouldn't be able to stop herself.

"I'm sorry Loki, but no. This is as far as we go for now." she whispered to him.  
He sighed and let himself up off her and sat back. She sat up and looked at his face. He was disappointed. She moved closer to him and sat down in front of him.  
"I just, need to get more comfortable with this whole, situation." She whispered to him, touching his knee.  
"I'm not saying we can never do this, but for now, we need to get to know each other first." She said, stilling trying to comfort him.

"It's just, I've waited so long…" he said, looking at her red eyes.  
"To feel a connection to someone." He added.  
He wasn't lying that time. All the time he was floating around in space, trying to conquer Earth, he never once felt anything but anger and the need for revenge.

"Me too Loki. You have no idea how many suitors have courted me. And not one of them, have made me feel the way you do. And in three days mind you." She chuckled.  
"Slowly." She said, leaning forward and kissing him softly on the lips.  
She then got up and walked off towards the door.  
"The fires that last the longest, take a long time to ignite." She smiled back at him over her shoulder.  
"Goodnight Loki." She said before slipping out the door.  
She closed it behind her and went back to her room.

He watched her leave and as soon as the door closed, he lay back down on his pillow. He had been so close, and just like that, she was gone, like mist that rolled in, left its damp touch and burned away in the heat of the sun. He reached up and touched his lips, tasting her lingering flavour on his lips. Who knew a Fire Giant could taste so, delicious. He was going to enjoy pulling her into his honey trap and making her his. He wouldn't be able to sleep now after that engaging rendezvous, so he picked up his plans and adjusted them according to this new little venture. Six months, tops, and she would be his.

Vara walked silently back to her room. She snuck back in and closed the door behind her. She let out a sigh of relief and sauntered back off to her bed. She lay down and began to replay the last few minutes in her head. If his voice was velvet, then his hands were silk, running down her ashen skin like it belonged to him. He was so confident and sultry; he had definitely seduced a woman before. She wondered who that woman might be. He was an outcast god, surly he had a wife and children possibly. She bit her bottom lip, drawing the last bit of his lovely poison into her being. His taste was cool and refreshing, unlike anything she had ever tasted before. She planned to taste it more often, but first, she had to get used to the fact that she had feelings for him. She lay down and fell asleep, her dreams taking her back to his room and finishing what they started. It was all her doing that night. Loki didn't need to plant the thoughts in her mind at all.

The next day, after a sultry and mind blowing night, Vara was a little fragile. Not so much in her appearance but her mind had been truly corrupted by Loki. She could think of nothing else but his kiss. She walked down the hall to the council room, where she was expected, smiling stupidly to herself. She walked into the room and saw all the men standing, waiting for her, but they were not looking at the door. She stepped in to see Loki sitting on her throne. Her mouth began to hang ajar as she stepped closer.

"What the hell is this Loki?" she asked him, meeting his warring gaze.  
He looked at her stood up off her throne and smiled his charming smile.

"Just warming it for you my queen." He said, stepping aside as she walked up to him. She held his gaze all the time, until she squeezed past him and sat down on the throne. She sighed in relief and turned her attention to the group.

"So, did anything disastrous happen last night?" she asked, looking to her head of security.  
He shook his head and bowed solemnly.

"All was quiet in the realm, my lady." He said to her.  
She kept seeing Loki staring at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked at him.

"What are you doing here anyway, this is the war council." She asked him, leaning back in her throne and crossing her arms over her chest and crossing her legs.

"He, has a plan." Her advisor said to her. She looked to him and then back at Loki before she smiled.

"For the war, because this is where we discuss war." She said to Loki.

"Yes, I do in fact." He said, stepping forward to her right hand side.  
"I know you all want to take Asgard." He said boldly, looking to everyone.  
They shook their heads suddenly, denying it vehemently.  
"Oh come on now, I'm no fool. I sat on Odin's war council. I know all the history." He said, looking to Vara. She was the only one he needed to convince.  
"In this state, you can't do it." he said, slowly beginning to walk around her throne, running his right hand over the top of the throne.  
"You need strength, numbers, and most of all stealth." He said, stopping to Vara's left and smiling down at her.  
"I can get you, all of you, into Asgard." He smiled at her. Vara nodded and listened intently.

"But like you said, at this stage, we will be crushed. Muspelheim will fall to Odin, I will be imprisoned, and my people killed or worse, subjugated." She said to him.  
He nodded and agreed with her. He knew the inner workings of the dungeons well enough that if that did happen, he could save her, but at what price? She would have no home to come back to.

"Agreed, but at your current ability, you could take a second tier realm and grow strong enough to take Asgard there after." He explained his theory to her. he let the idea simmer in their minds for a little while before the old man spoke up.

"And which realm do you have in mind?" Vara's advisor asked him, although he already knew the answer.

"Midgard." Loki said, looking up at him.  
The room fell silent. They had known all along that Loki couldn't just be here for the war on Asgard. There was something on Midgard he wanted.  
"Or Earth, as the local populace refer to it." he said, walking back around the throne slowly, to Vara's right side.  
"They have gems and precious metals. More than enough to forge the strongest armour for your army and keep them well feed with its rich volcanic soil." He whispered to her, trying to lure her into his trap.

"Volcanic soil, we have that here and nothing will grow. It's worthless." She said to him, but he simply smirked at her and shook his head.

"Their volcanic soil's composition is different from this realm. In fact, they are polar opposites. Here, nothing grows in it. But there, everything your little lava heart desires can be grown in it. Nay, thrive." He smiled at her.  
She looked up at him, the disbelief growing in her eyes. She would have to see the realm first before she declared war on it.

"Your proposal has been noted and heard. We will make our decision in private, seeing as my people will be the ones in danger of dying. I will let you know what I decide." She said to him, very diplomatically, trying to keep up the ruse for her men.

He nodded and walked to the exit, before opening the door and leaving without looking back. It was a ploy, obviously. He warped back into the room shortly afterwards, and used his magic to cloak himself.

"Why Midgard?" Vara asked her councillors.

"He wants something there. Why else attack it twice in as many months?" her advisor said to her.  
Loki began to get very uneasy. They were onto him. They didn't know that he still owed the Chitauri the Tesseract. It was a fact that breathed down his neck at regular intervals.

"I agree." Vara said, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her forehead.  
"If I could only figure out his next move, then he wouldn't throw us for such a loop every time he opened his mouth." She sighed, still rubbing her right temple.

"I think you know his next move, my queen." Her advisor said to her.  
She stopped rubbing and looked up at him.

"Please, enlighten me." she said to him.  
He sighed and gestured to the others to leave the room and they promptly did. As soon as the door closed, he turned to her and sighed.

"Surely you can't be so blind." He said to her.  
She gestured to him with her hand that she needed his theory to be explained to her.  
"You. Or your army rather. If he controls you, he controls your army through you." He said to her.  
She frowned and leaned away from him in the other direction.

"No, it can't be." she laughed it off.

"No, think about it. Everyone in the nine realms knows you have yet to choose a husband. And what other way would he convince you. Sex, of course." He began to make sense.

Loki was really beginning to panic now. This old fool had him figured out so early in the game. He was going to have to step up his game and bed her soon, before he made her paranoid.  
Vara thought about it for a few moments.

"No, he arrived before he knew I was even around, let alone in line to be queen. Before I was even aware of what my father was going to do. So it couldn't have been his plan. Maybe he really is seeking asylum." She tried to reason with him.

"Perhaps, but I can tell you this, when he first arrived here, he was going to battle your father for control of this realm. Bedding you has become his plan now. A much more attractive plan." He said to her.  
She frowned and shook her head in disbelief.

"He's alone, and wanted in Asgard, he knows the only place that they dare not set their feet will be here." she said to him, placing her hand on the table palm down. That misinformed statement elicited a roar from her advisor. Loki jumped at this ferocity but not Vara, she knew he had a temper.

"Oh stop it." she simply said to him.

"SURELY YOU CAN'T BE THAT BLIND!" he shouted at her.

"Maybe I am. But I trust there is good in him somewhere." She said, unfazed by his shouting.  
"He can't be all evil." She whispered to herself.

Loki was moved, she was the first person who he had heard defending him in a long time. Maybe ever.  
Her advisor sat back and looked at her face, particularly her eyes.

"It's too late. He's already bedded you, hasn't he?" he asked her.  
She looked at him and now temper began to flare.

"No. He hasn't. But what does it concern you if he has? That is my decision to make." She said to him, the red cuts slowly becoming visible in her skin.

"He's playing you Vara." He whispered to her.

"If that's how he plays, then I'm game." She said, standing up.  
"No one has ever made me feel the way he does." She said to him.  
"He makes me feel normal." She said, beginning to walk towards the door, but stopping behind his seat.  
"Not like the runt that happened to be born to the king." She said to him.  
Her advisor was thrown by this. He had hoped everyone in the palace had treated her with the kind of respect she deserved as a princess and queen, but clearly, she felt the differences.

"Vara, that's not true. You're no runt." He said, standing up and turned to look at her.

"Really? Oh yes, that's right. I'm princess Vara." She said to him.  
"If I were born to some other family, I would have been thrown into the volcano and you know it." she said to him.

"Please, if you trust him, you're making the worst mistake of your life." He said, taking hold of her hands and enveloping them in his own.  
"There is something about him. Something I don't trust." He begged her one final time.

"I trust him. That should be enough." She said, pulling her hands out from his and walking towards the door again. She stopped one last time and looked back at him.  
"This realm will not fall. I promise you. No matter what I have to do, even if I need to break my own heart, it will not fall, old friend." She reassured him before walking out.  
Loki smiled and looked back at the old Fire Giant. He sat back down on his seat and Loki silently made his way over to him and sat down beside him.

"She wants him. Like her father once wanted and hunted her mother. Nothing will stop her from getting what she wants." The old man said to himself.  
Loki smirked and thought that he wouldn't fight her if she did in fact want him. He raised his staff and touched the old man's temple closest to him, wiping out the conclusion that Loki was planning on bedding Vara.

"Forget about that. That is not your concern." Loki whispered his silver words and the thought simply faded away like mist. Loki got up and warped back to his chambers. He had to work on his plan and move it up. If the old man had put it together, surely the others would not be very far behind.


	10. Chapter 10

Vara was so infuriated with her advisor that she went to her mother's mausoleum to blow off some steam.  
She was pacing up and down the room, shouting some gibberish like words and insults, shooting fire balls out of the windows and door. Loki just happened to see one being flung out the window and heading up across the dark orange sky from his room. He frowned and walked up to his balcony and looked for the source. He saw that it was coming from Sinmoera's mausoleum. He smiled and knew Vara was in there letting off steam. Or fireballs, as it were. This was his perfect time to strike. Her faith was shaken and she was beginning to distrust her council.  
He cleaned himself up and made sure that he looked even more dashing than normal and made his way down to the mausoleum entrance.

He took in a deep breath and put up his protective spell again in case one of those balls was flung in his direction. He then walked into the mausoleum, acting as if he didn't know she was there. He walked into the last room where she was and looked up to see her.

"Oh, I beg your pardon, I didn't know anyone was here." he said, looking at her pacing up and down the hall.  
She stopped and looked at him. The red cuts in her skin were clearly visible from this distance and he frowned. Surely that talk couldn't have made her so angry. Still, he knew this was his only chance to get at her psyche and drive a wedge between her and her advisor.  
She suddenly realised she what she must have looked like to him.

"I'm sorry; I'm just trying to cool down." She said, turning away from him, hiding her skin under her hands and going to sit on the cool marble seat.

"Likewise." He said, walking up to her and sitting down beside her.  
"This is the only place in your realm that I feel comfortably cool." He said, looking around the mausoleum for a convincing act.  
"If I may ask, why are you trying to cool off?" he asked her. She sighed and leaned back on the wall, slumping down a little.

"He told me not to trust you. And that you were going to lead us into a fight we had no business fighting. He said you want to go to Midgard for another reason, not just to help us." She said to him, looking at him, her head tilted sideways against the wall.  
Loki nodded slowly and looked back down the entrance hall. He had to come up with a convince response to that.  
"He's just an old man, he knows nothing about advancement and…" she began but she was cut off by Loki.

"He's right. You shouldn't trust me." he said, looking back at her.  
She smiled weakly and sat up right, leaning forward on her knees.

"What are you saying?" she asked him.

"I'm the god of mischief. No soul alive can plan a hoax like I can. And no one can weave webs of lies and deceit like I can." He said, softly, looking down at the ground. He hoped that by playing this truth card, it would make her trust him a little more.  
She nodded and looked at her mother's sarcophagus.

"300 years." She said eventually, stilling looking at the carving.  
"That's how long my father has been trying to marry me off." She said to him, before looking at him.  
"He's tried with everyone. Other Fire Giants, kings from other realms, literally everyone and everything. But I didn't click with any of them." she said, leaning back against the wall.  
He noticed she was especially restless today.  
"Luckily he loves me just enough to know when I won't be happy." She chuckled, beginning to fidget with her fingers.  
He sat quietly, listening to her. Taking in information he could later use.

"I've tried so hard to be what he expects me to be." she said, looking down that entrance hall, staring blankly.  
"Strong, independent, defiant, a good warrior." She said, looking at him and chuckling as the next statement playing into her mind.  
"His right hand warrior when Ragnarök comes. But now…" she said, biting her lip and shaking her head despondently.

"I feel like I've been abandoned to lead them into this fight." she said to him, looking down the entrance hall again.  
"I have no leadership experience; no way of knowing what I'm doing is right or wrong. And the Asgardians will win because of it. I can feel it in my bones." She said softly, leaning back.  
He nodded and thought that he should tell her a little something about himself, with her being so open with him.

"I'm adopted." He said simply.  
She looked to him and kept her gasp to a minimum.  
"Trust me, that's how I felt when my father told me." he said, taking his helmet off and putting it down on the seat next to him.  
"Only, I found out on my own, and I literally had to drag it out of the old man." He chuckled.  
"He took me from my real family and raised me as his own, hoping I would never find out." He carried on.  
She felt her heart melting for him.  
"But the signs were always there." He said, remembering the times back in Asgard.  
"He always favoured Thor above me. Even making him king when he was clearly not ready." He said to her, looking at the floor.  
"I was ready. I could have made him proud." He said softly.  
"But why would he want that. I'm not his son." He said sadly.  
"I don't know why I didn't see it sooner." He added.  
She felt her heart breaking for him now. He seemed so lost and broken. She wondered if this was the reason he wanted them to attack Asgard. Did he want revenge on his father?

"Is your shield up?" she asked him.  
He had to remember what she was talking about before he looked at her and nodded slightly. She reached out and touched his hand.  
"Sometimes we're blind to what is happening in clear daylight when it involves our loved ones." She tried to comfort him.  
He nodded. She was right. He did love his Asgardian family, but he could never forgive them for lying to him.

"Thank you. You're too gracious." He smiled and squeezed her hand softly.  
"And here's a little piece of advice for you." He said, turning in his to face her.  
"Expectations are put on us, hoping that we rise to and meet them. But really, they are there to be ignored." He said to her, taking hold of her other hand.  
"That's the only way we can surpass them." he smiled at her.  
"Do what makes you happy. Take no one else's opinions into thought. They cannot live your life for you." He added.

She smiled and blushed slightly, now feeling his pulse through her hands. Her heart sped up and she looked down at the ground.

"That makes sense." She said, smiling.  
He lifted his hand and placed it under her chin, making her look up at her with a gentle push.

"Do what you want." He said, leaning in slightly, merely to see if she would lean in and kiss him.  
She saw him move closer to her and she lost her heart yet again. She waited a few moments to see if he was in fact leaning towards her, or had she inhaled a little too much volcanic gas. He was leaning in towards her so she leaned into him. She closed her eyes and leaned closer. He smiled and pressed his lips to hers, connecting and kissing her softly. He reached towards her face and cupped his hand over her cheek softly; careful not to seem as intimidating as he was the night before. She broke the kiss softly and leaned her forehead against his. She was breathing a little faster than normal and her eyes were tilted down avoiding eye contact.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." she whispered to him.

"The Midgardians call it lust…" he whispered back to her, softly stroking her cheek before setting his hand down on her knee.

"Lust…" she said softly.  
"What does it mean?" she asked him.

"It means that you want something so badly, that you'll do anything to get it." he explained.  
"Lust usually refers to another person." He whispered to her.  
She looked up and met his icy eyes and blushed even more.

"Kiss me again." she ordered him.  
He smiled and obliged. She was a queen after all and he was bound to listen to her in her realm. Not that he was fighting hard against his own lust.  
He leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers, softly playing with her malleable lips. He reached up and softly cupped her cheek with his hand, before he began stroking it slowly with his thumb, and then moving up, to run his fingers through her soft, long black hair. She blushed deeper, making her face heat up and her blood run hot. She reached towards him, reaching for his belt buckle. She realised what she was doing and she had to stop herself. She broke the kiss suddenly and stood up, before walking a few steps away from him.  
He was perplexed, things were just getting good.

"Did… did I do something to displease you, my lady?" he asked her.  
She shook her head, her long hair whipping side to side subtly. She touched her lips, tasting his lingering taste on them.

"No…" she whispered as she turned to face him.  
"If I don't walk away from you now…" she said, blushing deeply, giving colour to her ashen cheeks.  
"Then we'll do something we'll both regret." She added, looking down at the ground.  
He got up and walked over to her, choosing his method off attack carefully. He reached up and touched her cheek tenderly.

"I won't regret it." he whispered.  
She looked up to meet his eyes and blushed deeper.  
"Can't you see Vara, that's why the fates brought me here? For you." he whispered his silvered seductive words to her.  
She shook her head and looked back down.

"No, I'm not that lucky for the fates to have woven my thread in with yours." She whispered.

"Maybe you are." He whispered to her.  
"I would never think to come here. But somehow, I ended up here, and just then, you're crowned queen. Can't you see the pattern here?" he whispered to her, caressing her cheek softly.  
"You're supposed to give into me. Allow me to be your lover." He said, leaning down to kiss her.  
She thought of kissing him back, to taste his sweet poison again, but instead she pulled away at the last moment. She bit her bottom lip, pulling away slowly.

"You know nothing of our laws." She whispered to him.  
"If I take you as my lover, you become my partner. And for a queen of Muspelheim to have an Asgardian as her partner when Ragnarök comes, it would be disastrous." She rationalised with him, but he needed to push her just a little bit further.  
Time to tell a little bit of the truth again.

"I hate them Vara, as much as you do." He whispered.  
"Maybe even more." He added.  
"The things I endured when Thor imprisoned me in Asgard three weeks ago, it was nothing short of cruel and torturous." He said, remembering the lashings and punishments he was subjected to.  
Let alone the humiliation by the person who claimed to love him the most.

"They tortured you?" she asked him, the concern in her eyes authentic.

"No… Thor, tortured me." he corrected her.  
"For thousands of years, we grew up together and lived beside each other. I loved him, more dearly than anyone, and he turned on a dime and tormented me till I couldn't breathe anymore." he admitted to her, forgetting that he was supposed to be acting in this production, he let a little of his humanity show.

"But, why?" she asked him.  
It was clear she didn't know anything about how war worked.

"He was trying to get me to tell him why I wanted Midgard so badly." He said to her, pulling her back to the seat and sitting down.  
She sat down beside him, still holding his hand.

"Why do you want Midgard?" she asked him.  
She had figured out that he wanted it too, but she didn't know why. He shrugged and smirked.

"After my darling brother was made king, I wanted revenge. I know I'm no match for him in battle. So I wanted to strike him in the heart. His love lives on Midgard, a mortal woman. I just wanted him to know she was mine." He said without thinking. He then realised what he had said and looked to Vara.

"She was yours?" She frowned while quoting him. She looked at him, the anger boiling just under the surface.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." He said, just as she got up and began to storm towards the exit.  
She then stopped and turned, ready to face him.

"Is this what you said to her?" she shouted at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, getting up and walking up to her.  
He reached out for her but she slapped his hand away.

"Are these the words that you used, to try and bed her as well?" she clarified her statement, breathing heavily under the weight of her anger.

"No, no, I never met…" he began to explain but was cut off by her next accusation.

"The fates brought me here… NONSENSE!" she shouted at him.  
"Did you get it right, to make her yours?" she asked him and waited for a reply.  
He waited a little while, making sure he wasn't going to be ambushed again before answering her.

"I never met her. She had died before I got there." He said, lying about her dying.  
The truth was that she never made it to New York, where his invasion started.  
The little wheels in her head began to work then. He wanted that human woman to make Thor jealous. Then why did he want her, she had nothing to offer him.

"Why me?" she asked him.  
He frowned and smiled slightly, unaware of her chain of thought.  
"Why do you want me as a lover?" she asked him slowly, making every word crystal clear for him to hear and comprehend.

"It matters not why I want you, the reality is that I do. Reason cannot explain something as mysterious as feelings." He began to reason with her.  
She shook her head, not falling for it.

"No, there is something else. What is it?" she asked him.  
He shook his head but he had to be more convincing. He couldn't fold now, not now that he was so close.

"There is nothing, Vara." He said, reaching out and placing his hands on her shoulders.  
"I'm alone and lonely, and I want love, just like everyone else in the nine realms." He said, thinking about how pathetic that sounded.  
That had to work.  
"And you are like me." he said, before her remembered that she didn't know he was a Frost Giant.  
She hadn't missed that and she frowned at him.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked him.

"I mean, that for a short while, I was king of Asgard. And you're queen of Muspelheim. We're the same." He covered up quickly.  
She thought for a few moments before nodding and accepting his explanation.

"Okay. But still, if I'm going to take you as my lover, you can't talk about other women in front of me like that." She said to him.  
"I know you're many millennia old and have probably had many lovers, but when you're with me, I'm the only one. Do you understand?" she said to him.  
He nodded in understand. She sure was little firecracker of a woman. How had he missed her existence for so long? Then he realised what she had said.

"So you'll take me as your lover?" he asked her, a smiled breaking over his lips.  
She smiled and turned to walk away from him.

"Maybe." She said, over her shoulder to him as she left the mausoleum.  
He smiled silently to himself as she walked away. This was going to much more enjoyable than he had first thought. He squeezed his lips gently, with his fore finger and thumb, tasting her lasting flavour on them. Who knew she would have tasted so sweet.


	11. Chapter 11

The games carried on for weeks. And weeks dragged on into months. He would try his utmost to get her to submit to him, but just as he got close, she pulled away and withdrew from the exchange. He was slowly getting the idea that she was afraid of him, at least in the sense of what to expect when they would eventually make love for the first time. He gathered that she didn't know as much as she let on and her confidence was as shallow as his Asgardian skin tone. He had also seen that she was terribly unprepared to run this realm and that she would frequently make mistakes and her advisor quickly corrected them to make sure she didn't look incompetent. There was a large amount of unrest in the realm and soon she had to appoint guards to protect not only her but Loki as well. The Fire Giants didn't like the fact that he was whispering into their queen's ear. They were on the point of revolting against her. He had to be very careful not to scare her off completely. The Asgardians were looking for him, as where the Chitauri. They had not forgotten about the blunder he caused on Midgard at the cost of almost their entire army. They had once promised him that if he failed at his task to bring them the Tesseract that they would make him feel things that would make him long for the sweetness of pain. The heat and volcanoes of Muspelheim was the only thing keeping the darkness loving creatures at bay. If he were to be banished from Muspelheim, then he would have no other place to hide. He would have to run like the rat they all perceived him to be. Muspelheim was his safe place now, despite how hot it was. At least it wasn't an Asgardian dungeon with that dreadful mask that nullified his powers and magic to mere child's play. He had been lucky enough to escape once, he wasn't sure he'd be so lucky again. Thor learned quickly.

He had been on Muspelheim for three months and he had decided that Midgard had calmed down enough for him to try and get back to it. That Tesseract was hidden somewhere on Midgard and he needed to find it and give it to the Chitauri so they would leave him be. He had to begin to turn the charm up to another level if he was going to get control of Vara's army.

He began accompany her on her walks up to Central Volcano in the mornings, the mausoleum in the afternoons and the volcano again at night. He was with her almost every hour of the day, except when she slept, when she would kick him out of her room, or leave his. She was slowly starting to fall for him, telling her about her life, her mother, her father and what her hopes and dreams were. He listened intently, storing it all in his mind for later use.

One day, on one their walks he couldn't help but notice that she was particularly frustrated. She was walking around angrily, kicking the lava rocks into the volcano, pacing back and forth on the rim while he stood still and watched her.

"Difficult day?" he asked her.  
She had been stuck in a conference the whole day with her council and she was only able to see him now.

"You have no idea." She said, not stopping her pacing.  
He was about to ask her to elaborate when she began to explain, in very colourful language what she had been told in the meeting.  
"We only have three months worth of food left and these sanctions don't seem to be any closer to being lifted!" She shouted more at Odin that Loki, but of course, Loki was the only one who was there.  
"I need to go talk to Thor, Loki. He needs to know just how bad it is here. Please, help me see him." she begged him to help her save her poeple.  
He looked at her eyes and saw that she was genuinely scared for her people.

"I can't help you. If I set foot in Asgard, it won't be pretty." He said to her, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his weight onto one leg as he looked at her.  
"I escaped from Asgard, I'm a fugitive; I won't be walking back into it. Not at any price." He said to her.

"Please Loki. I'm begging you." She asked, walking up to him.  
He saw just how desperate she was to get to Asgard and he could certainly make that happen, but he couldn't go back. Not ever. But it couldn't hurt to string her along a little.

"I could get you into Asgard to talk to him, for a show of kind." He smiled at her, winking slightly. She knew exactly what he wanted. He had been very persistent in trying to get her to submit to him. He was getting the message, she wasn't ready.

"URG!" she turned and stomped off a few paces before she turned to him.  
"I'M NOT GOING TO SLEEP WITH YOU LOKI!" she shouted so loud that it reverberated off the edges of the volcano and down into the city.  
He rolled his eyes at her. This little game of hers was getting old fast. He was beginning to think she would never allow him into her bed.

"But why not, do you not find me attractive?" he asked, walking up to her, slathering on the honey again.  
He grasped her around her waist with one hand and pulled her close to him. She gasped and blushed, averting her eyes from his. She felt his heart beating in his chest and she felt her heart begin to race in hers.

"Stop it Loki…" she whispered to him.  
He knew full well what his touch did it her and whenever they got into a fight, he used it against her.

"Don't fight it…" he said, leaning down to kiss her.  
Just as they about to touch, she breathed in deeply and pulled away from him.  
He lost his composure and let her go. He turned and walked a few steps away from her, feeling anger bubbling up under his cool demeanour. He turned and walked back to her.

"DID YOUR FATHER TEACH YOU NOTHING ABOUT RUNNING THIS REALM?" he shouted at her.  
She was taken aback. She had never seen him angry. Now that she had seen it, it was something that scared her even though she knew she could burn him into ashes if she wanted to. She looked to the ground, feeling embarrassed that she had been so desperate to get to Thor that she would ask Loki to go back to Asgard. After all he had been through. It was uncouth of her to expect so much of him.

"No… he's always had a tight grip on things, and kept me out of every major decision he made." She said softly to him.  
"I'm sorry for asking you to help me." she said, turning and walking down the face of the volcano.

She didn't hear him coming after her so she just kept walking. He looked into the bubbling and writhing lava below him and wondered if he should just pull out of this plan now. He looked back at Vara walking down the side of the volcano. She seemed really hurt by his outburst. There was a part of him and that part grew everyday, that wanted to spare her pain. And when this plan was played out till the end, that's exactly what would happen. It was now or never. He either left Muspelheim now, or went through with his plan.

He had to admit that he liked her, but not enough to risk his own skin. He had to get that Tesseract back. He took a deep breath and took off after Vara. It was never his style to run after anyone, but this time, he couldn't let the argument sit and simmer. He needed to apologise now.

"VARA!" he called after her, skidding down the shale and lava rock side of the volcano. She stopped and turned to him.

"What?" she asked him harshly.  
He stopped in front of her but he skidded a little further down and he had to step up to her level again.

"I'm sorry. I should never have said that." He said to her.  
She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for a real apology.

"I know you were never as privileged as me. My father kept me in the loop about everything that went on in the realm. I'm sorry." He said to her.  
She sighed and looked up at the volcano again.  
"If you want to go see Thor, I will take you." He said to her.  
She sighed and shook her head.

"No, it was a stupid idea. He'll lock me away, just like you said." she said to him.  
She looked down at the city and thought for a few moments.  
"I need to figure this one out on my own." She said, looking back at him.  
"Apology accepted." She said to him, knowing that he was waiting to hear if he was safe or not.

"Thank you." He sighed and smiled at her.

"Come on, we need to go in now. It's getting late." she said, walking off towards the palace.

He walked with her down towards the palace, knowing better than to talk to her. He felt stirrings in his heart, as they walked in uncomfortable silence, that maybe he had hurt her. What were these feelings he was feeling for her? It wasn't quite love, but he had the feeling if the left it and let it cultivate, that it would develop into love. He shook his head, trying to get that out of his mind. He couldn't fall in love with her. Not now… not ever, as far as he was concerned.  
At dinner he couldn't help but think that she was a wonderful woman, if but a little idealistic in the way she thought things should work. The only thing she cared about was her people and making sure they were taken care of, even if that meant marching into Asgard and confronting Thor. If diamonds were forged in fire and pressure, then surely she was one.

They all retired to their rooms and to his surprise, Loki couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about what he was doing, and to whom. Vara didn't deserve this as all. He sat up and sighed sadly. She gave him a little piece of herself everyday in the form of knowledge. She had told him things; let him into her mind and life.

'Perhaps that was the way these Fire Giants courted each other.' He thought to himself as he looked out of his balcony door at the desolate landscape.  
'Slow and personal.' He thought to himself.

Something in him told him that what he was doing was wrong, and that he needed to stop now before she got hurt. Then another part of him questioned why he cared if she got hurt. She was nothing to him, yet another pawn in his master game. But was she, the other voice asked. After getting away from Thor and the guards on Asgard, he simply cast the warping spell, just to get away. He didn't care where he went; only that he wasn't there. When he woke up Muspelheim, he thought to use this advantage, but maybe the fates did bring him here for a reason. Maybe Vara was meant to ascend the throne that day and meet him, work on a plan of attack with him, get to know him. make him feel something again.  
The only problem was, she wasn't really getting to know him. She was getting to know the suave, gentlemanly, Asgardian side of his nature, not his true Giant nature.

'What would she say if she found out I am a Frost Giant?' he thought to himself, looking down at the sheet and scrunching it up in his fist. He knew that the Frost Giants and the Fire Giants were sworn enemies, even more so than the Asgardians. Apparently in the earlier days when Laufey and Surtr were but new kings, they tried to work together to take Asgard, but when they didn't succeed, they each blamed the other for lack of military command and mettle. The two realms have been a cold odds ever since. He sighed. He could hear his mother's voice in his head, telling him that he needed to tell her. And if everything fell apart, then that was for the best. The last thing he needed to be trying to do, was get back to Midgard and the Tesseract.

He sighed heavily and swung his legs out from under the blanket and placed them on the floor. He stood up and got dressed. He wasn't as meticulous in getting dressed as he normally was. He was sure she would not want to see him for a while after his confessions. He walked to the door and opened it. He stepped out and closed it behind him quietly as not to alert the guards. He then walked down the hall to the main suite were Vara was sleeping. He stepped up to the door and breathed in deeply.

"Vara, there's something I need to tell you." He whispered, beginning to rehearse how this was going to play out.  
"No, no, it's nothing serious; I just need to tell you my real name…" he continued to whisper.  
"Loki... Laufeyson." He said softly.  
The first time he had heard those words burned into his mind and memories, burning all the way into his heart. And now, he was about to tell her, which made it real. Too real.

He lifted his hand and suddenly his heart stopped beating. Was he doing the right thing by telling her? If he did have a shot at having a life with her, it would go up in flames when she found out that he was Frost Giant. But it wasn't right to string her along. For once, he was going to do the right thing.  
He knocked on the door softly.

"Vara, are you awake?" he asked her softly.  
He heard mumbling inside her room and then he heard her sit up.

"Yes Loki, what is it?" she asked him.

"Can I come in…I… I really need to talk to you." He added.  
It felt so strange that he was having this conversation with a door.

"Is it about earlier, at Central Volcano?" she asked him, but he could hear her foot steps on the floor inside the room.  
She was walking to the door. She opened it and saw him leaning against the door frame, looking very weary and agitated.

"No." he said simply, asking in gestures to be let in.  
She rolled her eyes and stepped aside, allowing him into her room. He walked in and she closed the door behind him.

"What is this about, I really need to sleep, I'm briefing the army tomorrow on the war plan." She said, rubbing her temple. It was something he had noticed she did when she was irritated and frazzled.

"I'll try and make it quick." He said, turning to face her.  
He looked at her and then he realised it would take a lot of explaining to make this look better than it did in reality.  
"Actually…" he laughed half heartedly and looked at the floor.  
Why, in the name of Odin, was he so nervous?  
"There is no quick way to explain this to you." He said, sitting down on her bed and looking up at her, his hands interlocked.  
She looked at him side on and frowned. This wasn't their usual banter leading up to a make out session. Something was wrong.

'Is he finally going to open up to me?' she thought to herself.  
She slowly stepped up to him.  
"Loki… you're scaring me…" she said softly, sitting down next to him.  
"Has…" she stopped, she bit her lip and looked away fro him. As far as she knew, there was only one thing he fear this much. The thought that had just popped into her head was too terrible to bear, but she needed to know.  
"Has Thor found you?" she asked him softly, seeing the white knuckles on his elegant hands. He shook his head quickly, trying to set her mind as ease.

"No… no, you're safe. He's probably off looking for me somewhere else." He smiled half heartedly at her.  
"But… it does concern my family." He added.

"Your, adopted family?" she asked him, trying to clarify in which direction his mind was racing.  
He shook his head, but then frowned.

"Both, actually." He said to her.  
He wasn't able to look her in the eyes and this was distressing to her. It was strange for him, he usually held her gaze before she faltered. She was taken back by this. Something was very seriously wrong here tonight.

"Who know who your really family is?" she asked him, reaching out and taking hold of his hands. He was glad that he still had his shield up; this reaction was unexpected, especially after that afternoon.

"Yes, but not my mother, I don't know who she was." He said to her.  
She nodded, understanding that he might not know everything about his birth.

"Go on." She urged him, moving closer.  
"Uuu… no. First I need to tell you about my life up until this point." He said, turning slightly in his seat to face her.  
"You know that Thor is my adopted brother, and Odin and Frigga my adopted parents." He said to her.  
She nodded, having heard the names of the Asgardian royal family before in her war briefings.

"Yes, Frigga, um, practices Seid, as does Odin." She said to him.  
"It's how they met, according to my knowledge." She relayed to him.  
He laughed at the mention that Odin did little magic tricks like him.

"Yes, they do practice witchcraft." He said, using the Midgardian term.  
"And Thor, wields Mjölnir, the legendary hammer forged in the heart of a dying star." He said to her, rolling his eyes at the overused explanation of what Mjölnir was.

"Yes, and he goes around saving the realm, yadda yadda yadda… I get that." She said to him.  
"But where do you fit in the picture?" she asked him sweetly, feeling genuinely concerned for him at this stage.

"My…" he stopped, realising Odin was no longer his father in his heart and mind.  
"Odin, brought me back from one of his battles when I was only a few hours old. You will know which one shortly." He answered quickly, knowing she would ask which battle. Odin had fought so many.  
"He hoped that by raising me as his child alongside Thor that the bond of brotherhood would be so strong that when Thor ascended the throne of Asgard and I ascended the throne of my home realm, that there would be lasing peace between the realms." He explained.  
She frowned.

"Home realm… Loki, now you're really scaring me now." she laughed slightly, trying to hide her fear.  
"Are you hiding a pair of pointy ears under that mop of black loveliness?" she asked, moving his hair aside to see his ear. He smiled. Only she could make him smile in such a moment.

"No, I'm not from Alfheim." He said, before taking a deep breath before the breaking moment.  
"I'm from…" he stopped.  
Maybe he should tell her what his real name was instead, but then again, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. He was so confused.  
He let go of her hands and turned away from her. He was sure she'd see the monster he really was the second he said the name of his real realm.  
"Jötunheim." He said softly.  
She thought at first, that he was playing a trick on her. She had come to learn that he loved practical jokes and that he played them on her staff often. She smiled. She was onto his little game.

"Ah, so it's finally my turn." She smiled at him, putting her hand on his shoulder.  
He looked over his shoulder at her.

"Excuse me?" he asked her.

"Your jokes, tricks. You finally found one thing that would scare me. Well done." She smiled at him.  
"But you should really make them more believable. There is no way you'd pass for a Jötunn." She said to him.  
How could she not be getting it? This wasn't a joke. This was real.

"No Vara, I'm not joking, I'm a Jötunn." He pleaded with her to believe him.

"No, you're not." She said, very sure of herself.  
She had no idea how wrong she was.  
"You're not ten feet tall with blue skin and you do not have the ability to make…" she stopped as he held out his hand and conjured a small ice spire in the palm of his hand.  
She breathed in, looking at the small blue spire, and then back at his eyes.  
"Ice…" she said softly.  
She got up off the bed and slowly back away from him, heading towards her weaponry.  
"What is your name…" she asked him softly, the fear evident in her eyes.  
There it was. The monster he was, reflecting in her red eyes.

"Loki." he said, standing up off the bed.  
She grasped the handle of her sword in one hand and her staff in the other.

"You're other name." she said to him, referring to his last name.  
He sighed and looked down at the ground. This was what he was dreading. She might have been okay with him being a Jötunn. But not after she heard his name. His real name.

"Laufeyson." He said softly.  
She gasped and it was clearly audible in the silence of the room.

"Laufeyson?" she asked him, drawing her sword and taking a step towards him.  
"You're Laufey's son?" she asked him, still in shock.  
He nodded.  
"But… but…" she said, looking him up and down.  
"You're skin isn't blue and you're… you're, my height." She said.  
He could hear her heart breaking in her words as they began to lose their harsh sting.  
"How…" she asked him.  
He let it sink in just a little more and for her to get over her shock before he went on to answer her question. But he was taking too long in explaining this to her.  
"HOW!" she shouted at him.

"I've been living on Asgard for so long, that I began to look like them." he said, shrugging shortly after.  
"Who knows, maybe Odin put a little spell on me." he said to her, before looking up to see her eyes in shock and as wide as they could go.  
"But I'm not like them. I never was like them. I was never normal. Not to Odin, or Thor, or Frigga." He said sadly.

She looked at him, realising that he must have felt like the runt of the family, even though he lived on Asgard. They probably all treated him differently, knowing what he was. Just like her people treated her for being small and pale. He was a runt too. But he was also a monster, a monster that was her sworn enemy.  
She dropped her sword and staff and walked up to him.

"We may have had similar upbringings, being treated different and all, but you and I, we are sworn enemies." She said to him.  
She walked past him onto her balcony. She sighed and looked out over the realm.  
"Good thing for your shield, I definitely would have burned you." She said to herself, letting her next thought flow freely without thinking.

"You and me touching, exposed, could have been devastating for both of us." She said softly.  
She looked back at him. Would it really be that bad?  
Yes, it could, her mind reminded her. Fire and ice destroyed each other. It was common sense. Or was it?  
She turned and walked up behind him. He was still wallowing in his pity with his back turned towards her. She reached around him and grasped his shirt before opening it and pulling it off his shoulders. She dropped it to the floor, and leaving his upper body exposed.

"Drop your shield." She said to him.  
He sighed and realised that she wanted to kill him. That was fine with him. He kinda wanted to die after seeing the hurt in her eyes and seeing her react so violently to his news. He did as she asked and dropped his shield. He closed his eyes and got ready to feel the burn.


	12. Chapter 12

She reached out with her slightly shaking hands, worried that she might be wrong about not being able to burn him and that she might end up killing him. She placed her hands palm down on his shoulders.  
She waited for the sizzle, the smoke, the end. But it never came. She looked at her hands and saw that everything was okay. His skin was slightly cooler than normal, but he wasn't burning. He opened his eyes and realised the same thing. It was okay if they touched. Nothing was going to happen. It was the sign both of them had been hoping for, looking for. He turned slowly to see her looking at her hands and then at his shoulders, and then back at her hands.

"I… I don't understand… I should have burned you…" she said, looking at his icy eyes, confused.  
He reached up slowly, touching her cheek and cradling it in his hand. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, reaching up and touching the back of his hand with hers.

"All this time… we could have been touching…" she whispered to him.  
He leaned down and without even so much as a second thought, their lips touched and they began kissing feverishly. There was nothing more to hide and it was as if the bars of prison were gone and they were left to do as they pleased. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled herself up into the kiss, unable to get enough for his sweetness. He grasped her sides roughly, squeezing slightly, before sliding his hands under her clothes and gliding them over her silky skin.

This was everything they had been waiting for, the fireworks, the chemistry, the desire to please one another. It was all happening right here, in this moment, and she could barely get enough air to fuel her body. She could feel her heart pumping and beating faster than ever before as she felt his unbridled touch on her flat toned belly. He slid his hands slowly and confidently to the drawstring on the right side on her skirt, running over the scar she had hidden so well up till this point. She gasped, breaking the kiss and pushing him away in one smooth motion. He looked at her and saw that she had the red cuts on her face again. The same ones he had seen displayed on the first day he was here. They were much like his cuts when he was in his Jötunn form but the red on her white skin was striking and terrifying to say the least. She reached up and touched her cheeks, running her fingertips over the cuts. As far as she knew, they only appeared when she was angry, but she was far from angry now. She looked at him, and suddenly realised what she must have looked like. She turned her back to him, hiding.

"What are we doing… that was so close…" she whispered to him.  
He shook his head, the thought of that scar intriguing him.

"I'm just a guest; I was just following your lead." He said to her, walking up behind her.  
She felt her cuts disappear and she took a few deep breathes.

"You're lying…" she said to him, turning and looking at him.  
"You are the Asgardian god of mischief after all." She added.

"Vara, don't please…" he said to her, making to kiss her again.  
She pulled away from him, barely able to do so with her intense desire for his touch escalating by the second.

"Why…" she said breathlessly to him.  
"Why are you here, really?" she asked him, playing the same old trick, trying to distract him.

"The fates…" he tried to play that card again but she shook her head, not accepting that excuse.

"Are you trying to trick me into something I would never agree to otherwise, if I hadn't taken you as my lover?" she asked him, keeping her distance from him.  
He stepped up closer to her and she couldn't move away from him, not with the desire to touch him again taking over her body and mind.

"I'm aware of the fact that the realm is very small and you are running out of space with every generation born." He said to her.  
"There is only one solution." He said to her, touching her chin with his thumb.  
She closed her eyes and began to swoon at his touch again.

"Which is?" she mumbled, falling deep into his spell.

"We need to take Midgard. As our own. For your people." He said, whispering the sweet poison into her ears, knowing she would buckle at any second to his request. But she didn't, instead her eyes shot open and she looked at him in shock. She shoved his hand away.

"WHAT!" she shouted at him.  
"I thought we were taking Asgard." She said to him.  
He nodded to her, trying to remind her of the plan.

"First Midgard, then when we are strong enough, we will take Asgard." He said, reminding her, keeping her focused.  
"Earth is first on my list." He smiled to her.  
She frowned and her anger towards him faded again, as he reached up and cradled her cheek in his hand again.

"You have a list?" she asked him.  
He smiled and nodded.

"Oh yes." he whispered in his silky voice.

"Is…" she bit her bottom lip, getting ready to ask him the most important question.  
"Is Muspelheim on your list?" she whispered to him.  
His smile faded and his features turned serious as his eyes bored down into her soul. That was all the answer she needed.  
"You… you want Muspelheim as well?" she asked him.  
She had hoped that she would never have to choose between him and her realm, because she would always choose the realm. No matter the personal cost.

"After Laufey was killed, I became king of Jötunheim. I want both realms of Giants under my rule." He admitted to her, thinking she was far enough under his spell not to care.  
"If we combine our powers, no realm can stand against us and together we can take Midgard, Asgard and any other realm we so wish." He smiled to her, leaning down to kiss her.  
It appeared his plan was working quiet well, until she placed a finger on his lips and pushed him back slightly.

"Is that it? All this time, this was your plan." She whispered to him.  
He frowned and looked at her with a skew smile.

"What do you mean; you're going to have to elaborate." He chuckled slightly.

"Was it your plan to make me fall in love with you so that we can 'combine our powers'?" she asked him plainly, not stopping in her questioning.  
In her heart, she already knew the answer. He smiled at her, showing her just a little of his true nature. He leaned down and placed his lips on her ear ridge.

"Love… who was talking about love?" he whispered into her ear, his silvered words melting her resolve and anger.  
"We just need to forge a union in marriage. That will be enough." He added, before running his tongue tip over her ear ridge and sending shivers down her spine.  
But she couldn't believe what he was saying. All he wanted was her army. He felt nothing for her. Why else would he say that love was never on the table? She pulled away from him and turned her back on him.

"I don't believe in a marriage without love." She whispered to him, knowing that this was probably as far as their fling would go.  
She was refusing to give him what he wanted and he was doing the same. No compromises meant dead end.  
"If I did, then I would have already chosen a suitor from the many that have courted me." she said, crossing her arms over her chest.  
He smiled silently to himself and walked up behind her, and brushed her hair away from her neck. He leant down kissed her neck softly, trying to keep her under his spell with touches and kisses.

"If its love you want, you won't find it with me…" he whispered into her ear before softly kissing her neck again.  
She frowned and slowly turned around to face him. He was so close to her she could feel his breath on her face. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment for a instant and then opened her eyes to look at him.

"If that were true, you would have already walked out of this room." She whispered to him, leaning in slightly for a kiss and then pulling away just as their lips were to touch.  
"I may not be good at reading gods or humans or dwarves or elves, but I can read Giants." She said to him softly, a small smile playing over her delicate features.  
"And you're not telling the truth… about something." She said to him, seeing the reaction in his eyes.  
Now that she knew he was a Jötunn, she could read him like a book.

"You long to be loved… and give love in return. Your heart just lies behind a thick layer of ice that someone has to melt away." She smiled, reaching out and placing her hand on his bare chest palm down.  
"And who else is better for the job than a Fire Giant." She whispered to him.  
He closed his eyes. He needed to be more convincing or she would blow his whole plan out of the water and expose his true plan. He also needed to keep his distance, but not so far that she wouldn't fall for him.

"You'll never get it right." he whispered, opening his eyes and looking at her.  
"I was not made to be loved… only feared." He said to her, reaching up and grasping her wrist and removing her hand from his chest.

"Loki…" she frowned and looked into his eyes, seeing that was really what he thought of himself. He thought he was the monster that the stories portrayed his kind to be. But she had seen him in a different light. If he hadn't told her he was a Jötunn, she never would have guessed it. He wasn't a Frost Giant, in her mind anyway.

"I, will never fear you…" she said to him, but his face didn't soften to that news.  
She could see that something was off here. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe there was no love to be found in his heart. She pulled her hand out from his and stepped back.  
"Nor any other man." She said, looking at his cold, heartless expression.  
She stormed past him to her door. She ripped it open and stood aside.  
"Get out." She ordered him harshly.  
He turned without a second thought, picked his shirt up off the floor and walked towards the door. He walked through and didn't even look at her as he stepped out. She slammed the door behind him and he stood there, looking down at the ground. He turned and looked back at the door.  
He was right. She did see a monster. He walked off to his chambers and slipped inside, going back to bed.

She walked back to her bed and sat down on the edge. She couldn't believe it. Loki, a Jötunn. How had she lost her heart to the son of Laufey? This was almost too cruel to be true. Surly this was nothing but a bad dream. She would wake up and find that she was alone again. Surely that was better than loving Loki Laufeyson, someone who would never return her love. For the first time since she had been born, she longed to be left alone, and that she had never met Loki.

She lay down on her bed and stared at the door, hoping he would come bursting through, apologizing, but knowing that he wouldn't. He would never love her, he said to her. Was she simply not worth loving, or was he incapable of loving, having never been loved? She didn't know, and quite frankly, she didn't want him to answer that question, for fear of being told the former.

She knew she wouldn't sleep, so instead she ordered the night staff to tap a lava bath for her to try and relax her and sooth her nerves. When it was ready she removed her clothing and got into the piping hot bath, sinking down into it up to her neck. She sighed with the taste of Loki's kisses still in her mouth, and the thought of his touch infecting her mind.


	13. Chapter 13

For hours after, Loki was in his chambers, trying to relax on his bed, but the thought of the fight, and how close he had come to losing it all and making it all work within minutes of each other played heavily on his mind.

"How dare she… doesn't she know I'm a god?' he said angrily to himself, twirling the staff in his fingers.  
"She would be lucky to have me." he said again out loud.  
He sat up suddenly and looked to the door. He couldn't let this lie. Not after the things she had said to him. She didn't fear anyone; well he was going to make her fear him. He would take her army, whether she gave it to him or not. His very life depended on this. He had to get back to Earth and deliver that Tesseract.

He swung his legs onto the floor and stood up off the bed before he headed to the door. He ripped it open and stormed down the hall towards her door. She had posted two guards at the door. She knew him well already, he thought. He smiled as he, threw his staff up, grabbed the end and knocked the first one out with the head of the staff before tripping the other and kicking him in the face, knocking him out. He stood up and made sure they were out. He looked to the door and pushed it open.

She was lying in bed, facing the balcony, fast asleep. He came in and closed the door quietly, and turned, ready to wake her and continue the fight. But now that he was there, all his anger faded, seeing her lying under her white sheet, her body and its curves silhouetted against the burnt orange sky. He could do nothing but stare at her, laying there, ripe for the picking, beckoning him like the sirens of old. He took a step forward, and then another, slowly but not so silently, making his way around her bed to see her face. She heard his heavy footfalls and opened her eyes, to see him standing between her and the balcony, looking at her with his mouth slightly agape and with wide eyes. Her first instinct was to cover her body, so she grasped the sheets quickly and ripped them up towards her face, leaving her feet exposed. Feet were better than breasts.

"MY GOD LOKI!" she shouted at him.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, SNEAKING AROUND LIKE THIS!" she shouted at him.  
He snapped back to reality and realised that now was the time to seal the deal, or crumble at the end.

"I just wanted to tell you that you are making a huge mistake." He said, turning to face her side on, trying to make himself look more intimidating.  
"You are dooming your people to an undignified death on a dying realm." He said, leaning in, all trying to add to his intimidating stance.

She looked him up and down; here he was, in her room, trying to scare her into something. But what? Not that it mattered, he was just about to leave, but he didn't know it yet.

"That is my concern now, and if you are only talking about marriage, marriage without love, then you can leave." She said to him sternly before turning her back on him, ending the conversation.

He didn't move. He just stared at her. With her turning over, with the sheet so closely pulled to her chest, it exposed her pale, round toned butt to him. It seemed that she didn't even notice. Well, it wasn't exactly as if there was a cool breeze wafting in the window to alert her to her nakedness.

"Loki, do not make me throw you out of my room, because I will." She threatened him again, not turning to face him.  
Still, he did nothing but stare at her butt. The dimples at the base of her back, her dimples of Venus, drew his attention and pulled his eyes to follow her spine until it was covered again by the white sheet. Her hips curved so seductively into the length of her body. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for, and who knew that claiming her would be so enjoyable, if her body denoted anything. He smiled and dropped his staff to the ground, clanging on the stone floor.

"I do what I want…" he said, his voice slightly more gruff than his usual silkiness.

She had never heard him use that tone before, so she turned to face him, only to see that he had taken a few steps forward, closed the gap between them, and was hovering over her, his eyes inches away from hers. He slowly but confidently placed his arms on either side of her hips and knelt dominatingly over her, the look in his eyes different from what was normal. She looked him up and down, the blush starting to blossom in her cheeks before she met his blue eyes again, like ice burning into fire.

"L…Loki…" she whispered to him, unsure of what he was doing.

He reached up, fingers outstretched she looked suddenly at his hand, moving closer to her chest.  
"What… what are you…" she asked but was interrupted by him pulling the sheet from her shaking hand and off her body. He threw it behind him, leaving her lying naked in front of him.

She curled her long legs up slowly and crossed her arms over her chest to hide herself from him. She looked away from his intoxicating eyes.  
"Please just go…" she whispered to him.

He reached up and placed his thumb on her chin, pulling her face back to his and meeting her eyes again.

"You know you don't want that…" he smiled at her, not blushing at all.

He was obviously very confident when it came to matters of this like.

"I… I know I don't want things to change, and… I don't know what to expect… and… that scares me…" she whispered to him, falling into his blue eyes again.

"You don't know what to expect. Have you never done this before?" he asked, with a touch of surprise but he gathered as much from their conversations.

He just needed to make her more comfortable. She shook her head and looked up at him.

"There was no one I was attracted to. No sparks." She whispered, reaching up and running her fingers over his cheek.  
"Not like you…" she said, not knowing what was coming over her.

But somehow, this felt right, even though it scared the crud out of her.  
He smiled and moved closer to her, kneeling with one knee on the edge of the bed. He lifted his hands off the bed and reached for his jacket. He pulled it off his shoulders and shimmied it off. He dropped it to the floor.

"Loki…" she whispered to him, beginning to panic as he reached for the top button of his shirt and undid it.  
"I…I don't think… this is a good idea…" she whispered to him, getting all flustered as he moved onto the next button.  
He smiled and knew he had to seduce her a little more. He reached for the next button and craned his neck to the side and leaned forward as he undid it, before kissing her neck softly. She closed her eyes and sighed softly, reaching up from behind him and softly burying her hand and fingers in his black hair. He lifted his lips off her skin and smiled. He turned his head slightly, so that his lips were right next to her ear.

"We can stop anytime you want." He whispered to her, lips brushing against her ear ridge, before taking her ear lobe into his mouth and gently sucking on it.

She sighed again, before he began to slowly apply pressure to her torso with his own body, shifting slightly to get effective leverage to do so. He didn't have to push for long before she willingly lay back down on her bed, leaving him towering over her.

He got up off the bed and stood back. He pulled his shirt off and dropped it behind him. He let her look at him for a few moments, before he moved onto his belt buckle. He unclipped it, pulling it to the sides. He then pulled the zip down and let his pants fall to the stone floor. He was completely naked as he stepped out of his pants and knelt back on the bed. She blushed bright red as she looked him up and down, for the first time, seeing a naked man. She closed her eyes and averted them anyway.

"Loki…" is all she could muster as he moved over her, towering over her, making sure his hips were in line with hers. He smiled and made her to look at him again.

"Open your eyes." he whispered to her.

She shook her head, too scared to see him again. He smiled and lowered his hips, hiding his crucial parts from her. It had clearly scared her.  
"It's okay, you won't see it." he whispered.

She opened one eye and looked down, seeing that he was right, and it wasn't visible to her. She opened both eyes and looked up at him.

"You're not going to put that thing in me." she whispered to him.

He smirked and tilted his head a little lower, as if moving in to kiss her, but stopping at the last minute.

"Why not, you desire it, don't you?" he whispered to her, brushing his lips against hers with ever word.

She made to kiss him but he pulled back, smiling slightly.  
"Why don't you want it in you?" he asked her again.

She bit her bottom lip and looked back down at it.

"Let me see it again." she said to him.

He smiled and lifted his hips once again, exposing himself to her. Her face flushed red as she stared at it.

"Impressed?" he asked her, smiling.

"It… it's so… big…" she said, looking back up at him.  
He smirked and looked down at his awakened member.

"Well, I am a god." He said, trying to make up an explanation for her to feel more comfortable.

"I know… but I don't think it'll fit…" she said to him, looking down once again, but this time at herself.  
"Yeah, it definitely won't fit." She said, looking back up at his face.

"You'd be surprised." He smiled at her, before lifting one hand, slowly caressing her lower belly before dipping down into the crook of her thighs. She watched as his hand disappeared and then she felt an intense pressure as he pushed down onto her swell. She took a few quick breathes before looking down at his hand.

"What… are you doing… down there?" she breathed to him, as a smile broke out on his face.

"Have you never pleasured yourself before?" he asked her, shifting his hand lower down, resting his hand over her opening.

"No…I mean, yes… but it's never felt like that before…" she admitted to him.

"It's called an orgasm. Or at least a prelude to one." he smiled to her, keeping his hand where it was.  
"The Midgardians go to extreme lengths to obtain one." he said to her, before moving his fingers just slightly and tickling her entrance slightly.  
She sighed and felt some kind of urge to thrust her hips up and part her legs. It was the strangest thing she had ever felt. She had to distract her mind to stop her from doing just that.

"And… and the Asgardians…" she trembled, looking up at him.  
"What lengths do they go to…" she asked him, her voice beginning to tremble as well as her body.

He smirked and knelt up off of her, exposing himself to her again.

"Let's just say, there are many reasons why we're gods." He smiled to her.  
She blushed and swallowed hard, looking at his face. He was deadly serious; he was going to go through with this. She had to stop this.

"Loki, no we can't…" she said, trying to get up, but he then knelt over her again, scaring her back down.

"No more playing coy. I know you want me, and you know I want you…" he chuckled softly, looking down at his member.  
"Obviously." He added, looking back at her.  
She gasped, and her mouth hung agape at his confidence. It was very sexy to say the least, but she knew the laws of her people, and if this happened, her army would be his to command. Not a good thing when he was trying to command her entire realm.

"If this was to happen, and I'm not saying it will," she stopped, looking at his eyes.  
"We have laws Loki, and I think you know the laws. I know what you want, and it's not me." she whispered to him.  
He chuckled again and hung his head, revealing the top of his head to her.

"You may be correct, you may be imagining things." He said, looking at her again. "But I do want you, right now. And that's all that really matters in life, what you do in the moment." He smiled, lowering himself onto her, gently resting himself against her.

She gasped, feeling his hard member touch her swell. She blushed redder than ever, knowing she had failed to stop him. Maybe she wanted to fail.  
"And right now, I'm going to do my outmost to make you scream my name." he said, sitting back and inspecting everything.

He reached for his mouth and licked his fingers before reaching down and rubbing them up against her. She gasped and felt that urge again, to open her legs. This time, she couldn't stop herself, and she slowly parted her legs. He smiled and touched his tip, wetting it accordingly.

"There's a good girl." He said, taking hold of his shaft and gently pressing his tip to her entrance. She gasped again, feeling the heat coming off him.

"Loki… please, I'm scared…" she begged him one last time.

"What happened to 'I don't fear anyone'?" he asked her, a smile on his face, looking up at her face.

"I… I was wrong… is this why you're doing this… are you trying to scare me?" she asked him, her voice trembling.

"I'm doing this because I want to." he said, gently pushing forward, letting his head disappear into her.

She winced and moaned softly as a small stream of bright red blood ran out of her and down onto the bed. He looked down and smiled. If he wasn't convinced before that she was a virgin, this was his confirmation. He looked back up at her and saw that she was still in pain. He felt a twinge of sorrow… no, it wasn't quite sorrow. Regret… no, that wasn't it. He couldn't put words to it, but he didn't like seeing her in pain.

"It only hurts the first time." he said to her, feeling that twinge again. He had to explain to her that it would get better as they made love more often.

"Is it… supposed to… hurt so much?" she breathed to him, trying to take in more air to ease the pain.

"It's different for everyone. But yes, it hurts like hell." He said to her, trying to comfort her.

Then he remembered his plan, he couldn't just stop there, he needed to earn her love and loyalty, the old fashioned way.  
"You know this is only beginning, right?" he asked her.

She looked up at him surprise.

"WHAT!" she shouted at him.

She looked down at him and her and saw that he was only 10% in. She threw her head back on the pillow and winced.  
"Okay, go." She said to him.

He smiled and began to push a little more, forcing his way up into her. She contorted her face in pain and ever few seconds would take in a deep breath. When he was halfway in she shook her head.

"I can't, not anymore…" she breathed, looking down at the two of them.

Her earlier assessment was right; he would never fit in her.

"You can do this; it's just a little more…" Loki said, looking up at her face.

She took in a deep breath then she looked at him.

"Distract me." she said to him.  
He frowned at her. She waved her hand for him to come closer to her face, which he did.  
"Distract me." she begged him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down into a kiss.

He smiled slightly, giving into her request. It wasn't as if it was a massive sacrifice as he continued to push up into her. She winced and moaned softly in pain but only kissed him more feverishly, trying to divert her mind away from the pain with his sweet, cooling kisses.

Suddenly, he stopped and broke the kiss. He smiled and looked down at her.

"You were wrong." He smiled to her.

She blushed and looked down. His lower abdomen was completely against hers. It did mean she was wrong, but it also meant that they matched. She felt him in her and it felt so natural to her, she didn't know why she had put up such a fight. She looked back at his face and his ice blue eyes before she reached up and pulled him down into a gentle kiss. He smiled and kissed her softly, savouring the moment, softly slithering his silvered tongue into her mouth and flicking it around playfully. He pulled back afterwards and smiled.

"Are you prepared to delight in the supremacy of the gods?" he whispered to her.  
She blushed and thought for a moment.

She nodded slowly. He smiled and began to move back and forth slowly, trying not to scare her during her first sexual experience.


	14. Chapter 14

Vara over-slept the next morning, missing the first eruption of the day. Something she hadn't done since she was a head strong teen. Astrid walked into her room, as she did every morning, expecting to see her getting dressed in a great hurry. She was late for her address with the army, but instead she saw Loki, fastening his pants at the foot of the bed, looking at Vara, who was sleeping face down in the pillows. Astrid looked at Vara and then at Loki. She knew what had happened. Loki gave a triumphant smile to her and picked up the rest of his clothes, before heading towards the door.

"Morning." he said to Astrid as he walked past her and down the hall to his room.  
Astrid watched him, her mouth agape as he slipped into his room. He closed the door and after coming to her senses, she rushed into Vara's room and slammed the door, making sure to make enough noise to wake Vara. Vara did wake up with a start, flipping over and looking wildly around the room. Astrid saw that she was naked and she shook her head.

"Vara, seriously, Loki Odinson?" Astrid asked her in disbelief.  
Vara slumped back down into bed and covered her eyes. The light was a little harsh this morning, or maybe it was just Astrid's glare.

"Don't lecture me." Vara sighed to her.

"Loki… Odinson…" Astrid said slowly.  
"He's an Asgardian, the enemy." She elaborated, leaning onto the bed and seeing the small pool of blood on the white sheets.  
She gasped and looked at Vara.  
"Did you who have sex?" Astrid asked, getting up off the bed slowly.  
Vara sighed.

"No, we brought in some honey mead and had a wild party. Then we both passed out with our clothes off." She said, sarcastically.  
She opened her eyes and looked at Astrid at the foot of the bed.  
"Of course we had sex." She cleared up.  
Astrid folded her arms over her chest and looked out the balcony doors.

"Vara, you know the laws." She said, looking at her.

"Yes I do. Whatever is mine is now his. We are mated and are now partners. I know the laws." She sighed.

"He was doing this to get the army; I can't believe you didn't see it." Astrid vented, beginning to pace.

"So what?" Vara said, bracing herself on her elbows.  
"He's not going to be able to understand them, not like I do." She added, looking at Astrid pacing.

"Oh… you, who has never seen a real battle. Having lived under your father's stone fist your whole life. Right." Astrid mocked her.

"Astrid, this was my mistake to make." She said, swinging her feet out of the bed and placing them on the ground.  
She stood up and looked at her.  
"And I regret nothing." She said, walking off into her on-suite bathroom for a bath.  
"Once I started, I…" she said from the bathroom.  
"I couldn't get enough of him." she said, wiping her face.  
"It's almost as if I've been waiting for him." she added, looking at herself in the mirror.  
She smiled to herself.  
"I've always been waiting for him." she smiled to herself.

"Arg, spare me the love gushing…" Astrid stormed off.  
Vara smiled to herself. She was happy, and no one was going to take that away.

She got dressed slowly, taking her time. Everything else seemed so trivial now. The war, the famine and drought. Everything was dulled in the glorious glow that was Loki. She didn't know it, but she was in love, but Loki, wasn't. He was still playing the game, as any master would. He had taken the queen and that meant he was king, in his head anyway.

She walked out of the palace towards the barracks, wearing her battle armour and smiling stupidly to herself, until she saw Loki addressing the army. On her pedestal, as if he was their king. She stopped and stared at him. Her head was begging her to crack his skull, but her heart wouldn't let her. She slowly walked up behind Loki.

"And that is why they cannot be allowed to rule for much longer." She caught the last few moments of his little pep talk.  
As soon as the soldiers saw her, they began to cheer and make cat calls towards her, whistling and clapping. It was as though they had already won the war. She frowned, seeing her sea of well trained battle hardened soldiers cheering like some common peasants. She turned to Loki.

"Why are they cheering, what have you told them?" she whispered to him.  
He smiled and looked out over the ocean of red Giants.

"I told them that you have agreed to marry me, and that the war with the Frost Giants is over. Seeing as we are uniting our forces and forming an alliance for a greater good." He smiled using his sweet poisoned words on her.  
She reached out and grabbed his arm, squeezing slightly.

"I never agreed to anything like that. You are lying to them." she whispered to him, her anger bubbling up to the surface. He smirked at her and turned to face her head on.

"I know of the laws of the Jötunn. Once a woman lies with a man, they are mated and thus, married." He smiled at her.  
She let go of his arm and stepped back. Astrid was right. The bed wasn't even cold yet and he was using and commanding her army as his own.

"You… you tricked me…" she said softly, looking down at the ground.

"God of Mischief, ring a bell?" he whispered to her.

"I never meant for this to happen." She whispered, in shock.

"That's not what you were screaming last night." He said loudly for the entire army to hear.  
They all began to laugh and cheer once again, at her this time, not with her.  
She looked at the angrily and a very audible growl could be heard. It was one of the traits she had inherited from her father, a fearsome growl that commanded her army's attention and obedience. The army fell quiet and she glared at them from under her eye brows.

"YOU ARE ALL DISMISSED... NOW!" she shouted at them.  
They knew better than to mess with her when she had her staff, so they dissipated, but not moving too far away. They wanted to see the end of that fight.

She turned to Loki; her eyes seemed to be a hotter red today for some reason. Her red cuts began to appear in his skin again and he knew he had angered her.

"You will not control my army. This realm belongs to me, no matter what we did together." She whispered to him in a very soft, low threatening tone of voice.  
He nodded to her, trying to calm her down.

"I was just telling the army that they will be going to Earth to capture it." he said innocently.

"IT'S NOT YOUR PLACE TO DO THAT!" she shouted him, her red cuts getting deeper.  
He lifted his hands in innocence and shrugged, trying again to avoid her anger.

"Unless of course, you have changed your mind and decided that you don't want to be queen of Midgard." He said, smiling, tempting her with another realm to be added to her reign.  
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from him, looking at her army's back.

"That's not what I meant." She said, before walking off, and into the throng of the soldiers.

He could hear her voice as she spoke to her people on the same level as they were on. She definitely had a different way of ruling. She didn't see herself above the others, but equal. They were worth of her respect and fear as much as theirs was to her.

"We will soon take Earth and then Asgard." She shouted, so her army could hear her.  
"Ragnarök is here and Odin and Thor's time is over." She added, loudly.  
Loki smiled. This was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to make Thor and Odin suffer for the pains they had caused him.

"The time of the Jötunn has arrived." She smiled, looking up at the faces of her troops.  
They began to chant and cheer shortly after. She walked out of the hoard, her tiny white figure appearing out of the crowd of red and silver. She was smiling as she looked up at Loki. He inclined his head to her and she nodded to him.


	15. Chapter 15

She then made her way back to the palace, leaving the soldiers cheering and beginning their festivities in her wake. She wasn't going to stop them. They had waited for that moment for millennia, and they deserved a little down time from all the training they had been doing. She heard footsteps behind her and she glanced slightly over her shoulder to see that Loki was following her at a short distance. She smiled to herself and made her way down the right of the side of the throne room, to a door at the head of the room. She took a key out from her pocket and slid it into the lock, turning it and opening the door. She stepped in, leaving the door open for Loki.

She went down several flights of pitch darkness, the steps and walls ingrained in her mind. She closed her eyes as she went, not that I helped much. She could hear Loki hesitate at the door, but soon, his footsteps followed her. She got to the end of the steps and she looked down a long passage. The room was dimly lit with torches, their orange glow resembling the glow of the sky outside. Along the sides of the room were prison cells. The four guards that she had ordered into the vault were there. She nodded to them and they left, passing Loki as he entered the doorway. He watched them pass and walk back up the steps. He then looked back into the room. Vara was walking down the passage towards the end of the hall. He looked around and saw the cells.

This was surely the dungeons of Muspelheim. He wondered what fearsome creatures were imprisoned here. He slowly began to walk after her, passing cell by cell. He saw no one in any of them, but he did see a silver box in every one. Some big, some small, some with a lock or two, some rumbling around, as if something was trying to get out. He could imagine a bloodcurdling scream coming from inside, but the room was deathly silent, except for the two pairs of feet treading into it. He had reached the end of the passage and was standing directly behind Vara.

"What purpose does this forsaken room serve?" he asked her softly, hearing even his whisper echo.

"It's our weapons vault." She whispered back to him, taking the necklace her mother had given to her from around her neck and slipping it up over her head.

She opened the locket and pressed the two ovals into the lock of the door ahead of them. He heard a series of locks, sliding levers and cogs turning before the dusty old pins that held the door in place sprung away from their stone wall prison with a loud metallic thud. She looked back at him and smiled.

"And this is our greatest weapon." She said, before slowly slipping into the darkness of the room. He tried to grab for her, but he missed her only slightly.

"Vara, come out here." he whispered to her, fearing for her safety, strangely.  
He heard nothing, but her footsteps heading into the room. He looked back at the passage. If those jumping and silent screaming boxes were anything to go by, she could be in real danger.

"Vara, I'm not in a gaming mood." He said, in his normal tone of voice, but the sound echoed violently through the room, threatening, in his mind, to rip the room apart.

"It's okay, you can come in." he heard her voice from inside the room.  
He hesitated before holding out his hand and generating a small but bright flame in the palm of his hand. He then stepped into the room, lit by his flame.  
She was at the end of the room, looking down a silver box that was half as long as she was tall. He stepped up to her and she didn't even look up at him as he stopped at her side.

"What creature is incarcerated in this prison?" he asked her softly.  
She smiled and reached out to touch the silver box. He looked at it as her fingertips caressed it like a lover. It was ornately carved, not unlike the silver chest in her room, but it had nine locks holding the lid down. More locks that he had seen on any of the other boxes.

"It's not a creature…" she said, turning to look at him, her hand still on the box.  
"It's a sword. Laevateinn." She added, smiling slightly, the light from his flame glinting off her white teeth.  
"When I was a little girl, I remember that my mother was the keeper of the sword." She said turning her attention back at the box.  
"She died in the doorway of this room, defending it." she added softly, the weight of that statement weighing heavily in the air.  
He looked back to see if there was anything to be seen. Except for a few gouges in the floor, there was nothing. He looked back to her.

"How?" he asked, simply.  
This was the not time for long words and lengthy speeches.

"Laufey." She said, turning to him slightly.  
"My father had told him that my mother had forged the sword, and that it was foretold that this would be the sword that would kill the Allfather." She said, softly, remembering seeing her mother's body lying lifelessly in the doorway, mutilated and contorted in pain and encased in ice.

"So, thinking himself to be the one who would end the Allfather's life, he proclaimed it as his own and came for it." she said softly.

Loki listened to her story. He had come to realise that her mother was the only one who paid any attention to her, and since her death, she had been very lonely.  
She missed her terribly and seeing her mother like that, must have been extremely traumatic to her.

"Vara, I… I'm so sorry." He whispered to her.  
She looked to him slightly in a sideward glance and nodded slowly.

"If it makes you feel any better, I killed him myself." He said, stepping up to her side and placing his hand on her shoulder.  
"I saw him burn. For his sins against me, and evidently, you." He said comfortingly, squeezing her shoulder gently.

"I only wish I could have been there to see it." she said softly.  
He flinched slightly. She clearly had a long lasting deep hatred for Laufey and all Frost Giants, but was that hate transferred to him.  
He thought to draw the attention away from the sadness of the moment.

"Laevateinn… I know it well." He smiled, looking at the silver chest.  
"I was the one who picked it from the tree at the gates of Hell and gave it to Sinmoera, who then forged it into a sword in the heart of this realm, correct?" he asked her, looking at her at his side.

She turned to him and frowned. He had asked her the first time they sat in her mother's mausoleum, who the woman on the sarcophagus lid was. He had lied, but she wasn't surprised at all. She was quickly getting to know that lying was like breathing to him, compulsory and second nature.

"So, you did know my mother." She said, pulling her hand away from the chest and turning away from him.  
He watched her walk a short distance away from him.

"I met her briefly, only to relinquish the twig. Then I returned to Asgard." He said to her, walking up behind her.  
He placed his hands on her shoulders before beginning to run his hands up and down her upper arms.  
"This was well over a millennia ago, Vara. I didn't recognise her, I swear on my honour." He whispered to her.

She turned to him and whispered softly to him,  
"You have no honour. I'm slowly beginning to realise it."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked her.

"Yesterday, you were talking to me about marriage without love, and now, it seems that you are comforting me as a lover would." She added, moving away from him and back to the chest.

"But we are lovers." He said, turning to face her.

"Love…ers." She said to him, pointing out that there must be some kind of feelings connected to a word containing love.  
"Anyway." She said, shaking her head gently and looking back at the box.  
"I just miss her. That's all." She said sombrely, placing her hand on the chest again. She reached up with her other hand and touched the necklace she had used to open the door.  
"This necklace belonged to her. She left it to me, when…" she stopped and a lava tear ran down her cheek."  
Loki had to distract from this sadness again. It seemed she drifted there all too easily. He would have to remember this.

"The sword would be useful in the war, if only we could get the chest open." he said, not moving towards her again.  
Vara sighed and looked at him, a sad look on her face again.

"She never told me how to open it." she said to him, before taking in a deep breath and taking her hand off the box.  
"But for now, I need to forget about it and begin my training." She said, turning and walking back to the door.  
She walked off, heading down the hall. When she was halfway down the hall, she stopped when she didn't hear footsteps behind her. She turned and looked back into her room.

Loki had stepped up to the chest and was about to lay his hand on it as if it was his lover, just as she had, but the second his fingers touched it, it began to glow a furious red. It burnt him with a searing scorch, smoking slightly from the place where skin met metal and he pulled away quickly and looked at his hand.

"DAMNED THING!" he shouted at it, seeing his skin burned and beginning to blister.  
She smiled and took a few steps back towards him and the chest.

"It's a security measure my mother put in place. No man may touch the box or the sword." She smiled to him.  
He looked up at her with anger in his eyes and she wasn't fazed in the least. It was the look that she had fallen for.  
"You should come with me and see how our training is done." She smiled before walking off again.

She walked back up the staircase and heard him following her shortly. She stopped at the top and waited for him so she could lock the door. He appeared in the darkness and stepped out towards her. She smiled at him and gestured to the guards to take up their posts again. They nodded and disappeared down into the dark stairwell. She closed the door and locked it up again, nice and tight. She slipped the necklace back over her head, turned and walked past Loki, heading up to her room. He smiled and followed her.

He hadn't had his fill of this fire queen yet. It was time for an encore of last night. She walked down the passage and up the steps to her room. She pushed the door open and walked in. She looked at her bed and saw that the sheets had been taken off. She sighed and realised that Astrid had probably taken them off to get them washed, being covered in blood and essence of Loki. She waited for Loki to come into the room before she slipped her shirt off her body, revealing her naked back to him.

"Close the door please." she asked him, throwing her shirt onto the bed.  
He smiled and obliged, making sure to lock it as well. He turned and saw that in the mean time, she had slipped her skirt off and was kneeling naked in front of the sliver chest at the foot of her bed. She took her armour out, placing it on the bed before standing up and closing the chest. She walked around the bed and pulled her black pleated leather war skirt on up over her long legs.

"Have you had many lovers?" she asked him, not looking at him, but fastening the straps that held the skirt up.  
She then pulled on a pair of short shorts under that skirt. He smiled, having watched her quietly all this time. He stepped up to her, smirking, expecting that the war skirt and shorts would come off shortly.

"A few." He said simply to her.  
She smiled and turned her back to him, wanting to tease him a little by hiding her body from him.

"I could tell." She said to him, slipping on her chest plate and looking at him over her shoulder.  
"Could you help me with this?" she asked him, gesturing to the straps at her sides.  
He stepped up behind her and put his hands on her sides, ignoring the straps. He ran his hands up her sides softly and gently, making sure she felt ever little caress. Her skin tingled as his hands headed under her chest plate and grasped her breasts.

"Wouldn't you rather prepare without all this armour?" he whispered to her, before leaning in and kissing her neck softly. She leaned back into him as he began to fondle her softly, tempting her to stay rather than train.

"As much as I would love to…" she said to him, before turning her head and kissing the side of his neck in return.  
"I need to get stronger." She said, pulling away from him and standing upright again.  
"Please, the straps." She asked him.  
He sighed but then pulled his hands away from her luscious breasts and fastened the straps at her sides.

"If I meet Thor in battle, at this stage, I'll be killed." She said, not looking at him.  
He knew what his brother was capable, having being on the receiving end six months ago. He finished up with the last strap, pulling it tightly against her skin. He made sure that it didn't pinch her soft skin; the last thing he wanted was a bruise on his new plaything.

She smiled and turned to him. She held out her arms and looked down at herself.  
"How do I look?" she asked him.  
He smirked and stepped up to her, before wrapping his arms around her and feeling the cool silver metal under his fingertips.

"You'd look much improved devoid of all this metal." He whispered to her.  
She blushed and leaned her forehead against his chest.

"I need to focus." She breathed to him, feeling him prodding her war skirt with his member.

"Ten minutes, that's all I desire." He said, leaning down to kiss her but she pulled away at the last second.

"If we get started, we'll be here all day and night." She whispered, pushing him away with her forehead.  
"I need to go train." She said softly to him, peeling his hands off her sides, but not moving away.  
She reached up and undid his top button. He smiled and reached for the second, thinking she had changed her mind, but she had a trick of her own up her sleeve.

"I never knew a god could be so passionate." She said, reaching out and placing her hand palm down on his bare chest.

"I she never knew that a frozen heart could give off so much heat." She smiled, turning up her own body heat slightly, just enough to make him realise she was there.

She watched as his skin turned blue under her hand and she smiled. She looked up at him and saw him shiver in pleasure at her hot touch. She lifted her hand off his chest, not wanting to burn him. She smiled and leaned up, kissing him gently on the lips, turning them blue as the spot on his chest began to fade back to normal. She pulled away and saw his blue lips turn back to normal too.

"You can come watch me train, or I can leave you and your… shivers… alone." She whispered to him.

"I think, I'll stay here, and wait for you." He said to her, trying to recover from her little trick.  
She nodded and walked off past him, heading out the door after grabbing her sword at the door. He watched her as she left, unable to calm his mind. What had she just done to him, was he really falling for her? Was this thing he was feeling love? He had never felt it before, with any of his other wives. Why her, why a Fire Giant? He walked around the bed and sat on the edge, looking out of the balcony doors, before lying back onto it.  
He was so confused.

The sound of metal clanging on metal filled the afternoon air for hours and hours. Loki had taken to going through his plan again, to try and stay on track, but it wasn't working. He couldn't help but think what he was going to do to Vara was cruel and she didn't deserve it. But the thing he told himself was that he did deserve revenge, and he wouldn't get it without her or her army. He just had to stick it out and figure out what was happening to him.

After several hours, she arrived back at her room, to find him napping on her bed. She smiled and walked in, closing the door quietly behind her. She unstrapped her armour and dropped it, clanging on the floor. He woke up with a start and turned over onto his stomach to look at her, slipping her war skirt off and dropping it to the floor.

"Sleep well?" she asked him, standing in front of him in nothing but her shorts.  
He looked her and down and smiled.

"Yes." he smiled, bracing himself on his elbows.

"How do you feel?" she asked him, stepping up to him, making sure to show off her breasts and legs. He smiled and bit his bottom lip. She walked around the bed and he slowly turned back onto his back watching her walk over to his side.

"Greatly improved now that you're here." he said, as she reached his knees hanging off the side of the bed. She smiled and knelt onto the bed, placing her knees either side on his hips and sitting down on his upper thighs.

"I need to relax." She said, as he sat up and looked up at her as she straddled him.  
"Do you know any techniques?" she smiled at him, blushing deeply.  
She was finally feeling confident and her old self again.  
He smirked and reached forward, placing his hands on the round of her hips.

"Oh yes." he smirked.  
She smiled and leaned down to kiss him gently. After enjoying the dominating stance she had taken with him, he had had enough and forced her over onto her back. He reached down while kissing her and ripped her shorts down and away from her womanhood. He smiled in the kiss, pulling them down and off her legs.


	16. Chapter 16

Loki was very soon spending every waking moment with her, as well as sharing her bed every night. Her maids and staff became aware of it not too long after the first night. It seemed that Astrid had thought to tell them as to make sure they were watched constantly. Not that it mattered, Vara was falling head over heels for him and despite all the precautions he had made to ensure that he didn't walk the same path, he found himself taking small steps on it himself.

He would catch himself staring at her getting dressed or as Astrid brushed her hair from their bed he was still laying in. His favourite time of the day was when she was finished training and came up to the room, got undressed and had a lava bath. He would watch her from a small porthole he would create with his magic. He loved the way the boiling red lava sailed over and off her skin, leaving it as ashen as before, never burning it or blackening it. He found it fascinating that she could withstand the heat and not burn or scream out in pain. He realised soon that it was her Fire Giant nature that kept her safe in the lava.

She was well aware that he used to watch her when he thought she wasn't looking; she didn't miss a beat. She could feel his icy eyes on her, even when she wasn't in the same room as him. The spell had been cast, and she was enjoying every minute of it. It was sure to wear off soon and he would leave Muspelheim and her. The people she loved always left. Was it so wrong to want to fight this wonderful feeling? It was temporary, so why not savour it?

She got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around herself before walking out into the room, to see him collapsing a small porthole.

"Okay, enough teasing." She said, sitting down next to him, and running her fingers through her wet hair.

"Teasing… I'm not teasing anyone." He said, innocently, telling the truth in a small pocket of reality.

"You are." She smiled at him, bumping him on the shoulder with her own.  
"You tell me that you have seen Midgard, yes?" she asked him.  
He smiled and leaned back on the bed, looking up at her.

"I have." He smiled at her.

"Then, have you seen other worlds, worlds that no one knows of?" she asked him, lying down beside him.  
He reached around her and pulled her closer to him.

"I have." He said, tuning and whispering his sweetened words to her.  
She smiled and bit her lip.  
He knew she had a sense of adventure, but what she would ask next would throw him.

"Could, you show me?" she whispered to him, turning her head and looking into his blue eyes with her red embers.  
He frowned and sat up slightly, bracing himself on his elbows.

"We're going to Midgard soon, you'll see it then." He said to her, trying to keep her focused on the war.  
She sat and looked back down at him.

"Please Loki." she begged him, sitting up and facing him, her legs folded under her.  
"Just one world. Then we can come right back." she reasoned with him.  
She reached out and placed her hands on his stomach. She began to gently shake him, egging him on.  
"Please?" she begged him again.

"Vara…" he said, sitting up and taking hold of her hands.  
"It's too dangerous." He sighed and looked down at her little white hands. He then looked back up at her.  
"There are… people who are looking for me, if they find me; we could inadvertently lead the war back here. Do you want that, the armour for the army isn't even ready yet." He tried to reason with her.

"Then let's go somewhere where they don't have the technology to follow us." She said, pulling her hands out of his and wrapping them on the outside of his.  
"All my life, I've wanted to see the other realms, and now that you're here, and have that power, how can I not use it?" she asked him.

"It's not your power to use. And for once, I'm going to do the right thing and say no." he said to her.  
"But I promise you, as soon as you are ready; I will show you all that I have seen." He smiled at her, seeing the disappointment on her face.

She looked at him sadly, and he had already fallen enough for her to hate seeing that face, inches from tears. He sighed and looked away.

"Midgard. A few hours. But that's it." he said, looking at her again just in time to see a broad bright smile break over her lips.

"Oh, thank you so much Loki." she squealed and leaned forward before kissing him softly on the lips.

"But, if anyone that I recognise sees us, we're coming back. I won't put you in the middle of a fire fight just yet." He said, trying to sound loving and concerned.  
"Hurry, get dressed, the sun is rising on Midgard right now, we'll miss the sunrise." He said to her, remembering the golden orange and punk sunrises of Earth.

"Sun what?" she asked him.

"I'll explain there, hurry." He said.  
She jumped up off the bed and began to get dressed, then she realised she didn't know what to wear.

"What must I wear? What is the climate like?" she asked him.

"It doesn't matter, nothing you own will make you blend in. We'll have to use my magic to look normal there. Wear anything." He said to her.  
She nodded and pulled on her every day clothes, a loose thin strapped top and a pair of calf length leggings. All black, of course. She brushed her hair and tried to make herself look a little better.

"You look fine." he said, walking up behind her and looking at her in the mirror.  
She smiled up at him as he placed his hands on her shoulders.  
"Are you ready?" he asked her as she looked into his eyes in the reflection in front of her. She nodded and held his gaze.

"Will it hurt?" she asked him nervously, as if second guessing her own determination to see other realms.

"Only if you struggle." He smirked and she blushed, dropping her head, hiding her smile.  
He would have to ask her why she kept doing that.

Suddenly a blue vortex formed under them, swirling, writhing, turning the floor into nothingness under their feet. She gasped and looked at Loki in the mirror, just before they fell through the floor.

She closed her eyes and for once, she had no choice but to put her full faith in Loki. She turned and reached around him, locking her hands behind his back, holding onto him tightly. She had no desire to be floating around in space for the rest of her days.

A few moments later, she felt the ground reappear under her feet, as they slowly lowered down onto the ground. She took in a deep breath, and noticed the air tasted and smelt different. Cleaner, fresher somehow.

"This isn't Muspelheim, is it?" she asked him softly, not opening her eyes to see if she was right.  
She didn't know if they were being watched so she didn't want to talk too loud as to put them in danger. He smiled down at her. Her curiosity and ignorance was truly charming.

"Take a look for yourself." He whispered to her.  
She opened her eyes, looking at his leather and gold clad chest, too afraid to look, or maybe she was afraid of what she would see.  
"Go on, it won't kill you." He whispered reassuringly to her.

She nodded, still staring at his chest. She slowly turned her head to her left, having seen that strange colour green that he had showed her, out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked at the sight and her mouth fell open. She let go of him and turned to face it in all its glory.

The sun was just rising over the ocean, east of the island. The golden light was just dusting the tree tops and giving the entire island the look of having been dragged out of a fairytale.

"Loki…" she whispered.  
"It's beautiful…" she was barely able to say, looking out over the lush green valleys and deep azure ocean that stretched for miles and miles ahead of her. Then she felt the familiar rush of heat at her back. She turned and looked behind her, only to see a boiling caldera of lava below them in a volcano.  
She turned around to look at the lava, now more intrigued by lava.

"Lava?" she asked, looking up at Loki.

"This entire planet's core is made of lava." he said, to her, turning her around, to look out over the island again.  
"It will aid us greatly in the war." He added, looking at her face, looking out over the island, smiling.  
"This is called an island. By definition, it's a piece of land that is created by centuries and centuries of lava flows building up on top of each other, until it sticks out of the water, the blue stuff, creating habitable land. Then the flora and fauna arrive." he said, smiling to her.  
She smiled and gasped all at once. This place was magical, everything she had hoped to find.

"What is the name of this, island?" she asked him.

"Hawaii." He said to her, seeing her fall in love with the place.  
And how could she not? It was close enough to home, with the benefit of being trillions of miles away.

"I want it." she said, looking at Loki with wide, glistening eyes.  
"When I am queen of Midgard, I want this island as my own personal playground." She smiled, looking back out over the green lushness.

"As you wish my lady." He smiled, looking over the island himself.  
"Now, let me show you what the people of this realm look and live like." he said, taking her hand in his own.

She smiled at him as their feet disappeared again into a blue swirling vortex. She kept her eyes open this time, and watched as they fell down into the blue swirling hole before their feet touched down on the ground, this time, on white marble tiles. She looked down at looked at the stone. It like that of her mother's mausoleum. He stepped back from her, and then they both heard voices. They looked out towards the huge glass door in front of them.

"The city is waking up. Soon, the streets will be swarming with the little bugs." He said, looking at Vara swiftly, realising that he needed to work his magic quickly.  
"Now hold still, I need to change your clothes." He said to her.  
She nodded and stood as still as she could, without even breathing as he changed her clothes. He changed her shoes into little light blue pumps, and her clothes into a light blue summer dress. She looked down at it, flowing and feminine, and looked back up at Loki.

"Seriously?" she asked him, a deep furrow forming on her brow.

"This is what the women on this planet wear." He smiled at her, changing into his Midgardian clothes as well.  
She looked at him, and saw how handsome he looked in his outfit and she pouted at him.

"Nah ah. Why do you get to wear that?" she said, pointing at his long black pants, trench coat and green and white striped scarf.  
His staff had transformed into a walking cane. It was kinda strange for her to see him with one, being young and youthful.

"You have the legs for a dress." He smiled and winked at her.  
He took her hand and began to walk towards the doors.

"Oh, one last thing." He said, holding out his free hand.  
The blue swirls formed into his hands and soon took on a solid shape. She looked at it and frowned. It looked like some kind of crown, with two orb-like black jewels in the front. He took it and gently slipped it onto her face, over her eyes.

"Sunglasses. It'll be dazzlingly bright in the open, compared to Muspel. It'll safeguard your eyes, until you become accustomed to the sunlight." He said, leading her out the glass doors and out into the city streets. She walked out into the street as if it were all a film, a movie in which time was going exceptionally slowly.

She looked around, mouth agape, at the strange creatures walking around in strange clothes, talking on some kind of hand device. And they were riding in, not on, huge metal Horgalsnipes.

"Did that Horgalsnipe eat that creature, and why can I see into it's belly?" she asked, pointing at a car that had parked near them.

He giggled and looked to her, seeing human talking on a cellphone. He was glad he brought her before the actual war. She would have been horribly equipped, seeing all these things first time in the heat of battle.

"That's called a car. And we can see him because of that thing called a windscreen. It's made of glass. It's a form of super heated sand and a few other things." He explained.  
"And that creature is a human. The dominate species in this realm." He said with a slight sneer on his lips. Vara looked at him and frowned.

"They seem, so… rushed and busy… and stupid." She said, seeing a woman crossing the street on her cellphone, and almost getting hit by a car, not paying attention.

"They are, but they can be amazingly resourceful." He said, seeing the woman beat the car with her umbrella. Vara laughed, mildly amused by her outburst.

"What city is this?" she asked him, looking to her left and seeing a huge metal tower in a green lush park.

"Paris. It's the capital of France, a country, or kingdom, as you would know it." he said to her.

"Can they see us?" she asked him, hooking her arm in with his and looking around nervously.

"Yes, but we appear as normal to them as any other human would. And besides, they are too distracted to make any notable memory of us." He explained, taking a step off to his right, gently nudging her to walk with him and walking on forward, towards the Eiffel Tower.

They walked around the park, seeing the humans doing their strange things. There seemed to be some kind of festival going on, as there were jugglers, fire breathers and magicians in the park, along with singers and Midgardians celebrities signing little pieces on paper with pens. Vara frowned at them as Loki led her to a bench under a tree. He then began to explain everything they were seeing.

"The sun rises and sets every day. Much like you tell the times of day by the Central Volcano's eruptions, they tell it by the position of the sun in the sky." He said, showing her the shadows in the green grass at their feet.

"So what time would be best to invade?" she asked him, taking her feet out of her shoes and touching them down on the grass. She sighed in happy delight and leaned back against the bench back.

"Night, definitely night. They seem to feel safe and secure at night. They don't think anyone would be stupid enough to attack them at night, so their defences drop considerably." He said, looking around the park.  
He saw an ice cream stand and looked back at her.  
"I'll be right back." he said, standing up and walking over to the stand.

"Loki, where are…" she shouted after him.

"I'll be back, just wait there." He said, looking back at her over his shoulder.

She bit her bottom lip nervously and looked around, as if the humans were going to attack her. She watched as he touched the man at the strange cart-like thing on the shoulder with his staff. The man's eyes flashed black and then blue. He reached into the metal box in the cart and pulled out two white ice cream cones. They looked so strange to Vara.

What on Muspelheim were they, what were they for? Loki took them from the man and walked back over to her, holding the strange things. He sat down next to her and she could feel the cold coming off the white things.

"Here, take hold of it here." he said, showing her where to take hold of it around the cone. She reached about and wrapped her hand around the cone, mimicking him.

"Like this?" she looked at his hand and then at hers, seeing she was right. He nodded and sat back, leaning against the bench back.

"Now, you just eat it." he said, licking his own ice cream cone.  
She watched intently and then looked at her own cone. She licked it tentatively, feeling the cold. She gasped and giggled, pulling away with a bit of ice cream already in her mouth.

"Wow…" she giggled, bringing her free hand up to her lips.  
"That's even colder than you." She laughed, looking at him.  
He smiled and took another lick of his cone. She settled back, having fun getting used to the strange foodstuff.

She sat happily, looking at the people. They didn't seem so different from her own people now. They were less violent and war ready, but they were living, as she hoped her own people would soon be able to do. She looked to Loki, looking around the crowd too. She wondered what his true purpose of wanting this realm was. Did he really just want revenge on Thor and Odin. If so, then would he let her rule the realm, or would he rule as king?


	17. Chapter 17

Agent Barton was walking up a side street adjacent to the park. Having finished a mission early, he thought that maybe he would see what was going on in the park, entrainment wise. It had been a while since he just chilled and took in a show in Paris. His timing was perfect, the June festival was on. He stopped to watch a juggler, passing on from the magician, not even glancing in his direction. His brush with magic gave him enough reason to never want to see it performed again, real or not. He leaned back on his heels, crossing his arms over his chest and beginning to relax and looked around. He did love Paris so much. He had been bugging Natasha to come with him, to eat pastries under the tower, but she was always on a mission. He panned his sleepy eyes across the park slowly, seeing the other people living the life that he and the Avengers had prolonged several months ago. The little things seemed so much more important now to him, warm sunlight and a cool breeze. Idyllic.

Then, as his eyes panned across the crowds, he saw who he thought was Loki, sitting on a bench under a huge tree at the other end of the park. His blood ran cold just at the mere thought of it being him. He turned and had to blink a few times to make sure that the tiredness and jetlag wasn't getting to him.

"Jeez Clint, focus." He said, blinking again, clearing his vision.  
He looked closer and saw that it was Loki. He was wearing his Earth clothes, and sitting with a woman, having a conversation with her. She was finishing off an ice cream cone. She seemed to be totally enamoured with him. He looked closely at her eyes, wondering if she was under the same spell he was under, but she was wearing sunglasses.  
Barton turned swiftly on his heels and disappeared into the crowd, but he kept his eyes firmly locked on Loki. After what he had done to him and the planet, he couldn't believe the gall this guy was showing, coming back here, for any reason.

He took out his communicator and called Director Fury personally. It rang once after he had speed-dialled his number.

"Fury." Nick answered.

"Sir, it's Barton." He said, looking back at Loki and the woman.  
"We have a problem." He added, taking in a deep breath.

"Talk."

"You won't believe who has showed up in Paris." Barton said, keeping Loki in his sites.

"If you say Banner…"

"No sir, I have no word on Banner yet." He quickly quelled any fear of the Eiffel Tower being used as a baseball bat.  
"This person is much further away from home. And an Asgardian jail cell." Barton spoke in slight code, knowing that Fury would get it.

"Loki!?" he questioned Barton.

"I'm looking at him right now. He's sitting on a park bench in Champ de Mars Park, talking to a woman." Barton said to him, walking through the crowd, making sure to keep moving.  
"Are there any other agents near Paris? We need to contain him, here and now." Barton asked Fury.

"Stark is in Venice, and agent Romanoff is in Prague. That's the closest ones we have." Fury said, and Barton could hear him telling the other agents to contact Stark.

"Sir, please keep Natasha away from here. He really shook her up. Besides, I think Stark has a score to settle." Barton said, looking back up at Loki and the woman.  
"I'll hold position until Stark gets here, sir." Barton added.

"He's on the way." Fury said hanging up.

Tony Stark and miss Pepper Potts were taking a well deserved holiday away from the hustle and bustle of New York and the building of the new Stark Tower.  
Tony had just woken up and was eating his morning croissant. Pepper was still sleeping, suffering from jetlag so much more severely than Tony. Tony looked over at her over his shoulder and smiled at her moaning softly into the pillow. He turned and looked out over the waterways. He could afford to get the penthouse up at the top of the building, but what the point of going to Venice when you couldn't get wet, or at very least hear the water as the bouts pushed along. Besides, he hadn't exactly been sleeping lately, the whole thing with Loki and the Chitauri had really shook him up, he was hoping the soothing sounds of the water would give him a two week reprieve from his obsessive thoughts of something happening to Pepper and him not being able to protect her. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he never wanted to lose her.

Tony's phone ran while he was looking out over the gondolas and the waterways. He looked down at the table and saw that it was a blocked number. He knew it was Shield. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away. He looked back over the waterways, taking another bite of his croissant.

"Urggg… Tony…" Pepper moaned.

"Ignore it." he said to her, trying his best to follow his advice.

"Please don't make me throw something at your head." She moaned, reaching over and grabbing his pillow, covering her head with it.

Tony reached over and picked up his phone, before turning it onto silence. He put it back down, leaving it dancing on the dark wood side table. It stopped ringing suddenly. Then after a few moments, Pepper's phone began to ring. She reached over and pulled in under the pillows to her ear.

Tony looked over at her, hearing her mumbling something but unable to make out what was being said. She sighed and got up out of bed, taking her time. She then stood up and threw her phone to Tony, making sure to catch him off guard, forcing him to catch it.

"It's Fury." She said, simply walking to the bathroom.  
He watched her walk off in nothing but his business shirt.

"I knew that." He said to her before she closed the door behind her.  
He sighed and lifted the phone to his ear.  
"You know, when someone doesn't answer your call, it means they don't want to talk to you." He said to Fury.

"Stark, we have a problem." Fury's voice rang out over the speaker.

"Am I on speaker?" Stark asked him.

"Stark, focus, please." Fury asked him.

"Okay, I'm listening, go." Tony said to him, sitting on the bed edge.  
"If you say my new tower has been demolished by Banner, I'm going to try and, attempt to kill him myself." Tony said to him, before hearing what the issue was.

"No word on Banner yet. But Loki is back." Fury said shortly, knowing what his reaction would be.  
He was exactly right. Tony wanted to make him hurt, like his beautiful self-sustaining building had.

"Where?" Tony asked simply.

"Paris, Champ de Mars Park. Barton is waiting for you." Fury said to him.  
Tony stood up and hung up, not even confirming that he was going. Fury knew he would.

"Pep, where's the Mark 4.3?" he asked her, looking around for the briefcase.

"Don't call me Pep, you know I hate it." she said, opening the door of the bathroom, about to brush her teeth.

"I'm sorry, Pepper, but can you please answer my original question, did we bring the Mark 4.3?" he asked her, appearing in the doorway opposite her.

"It's in the black case, over there, by the bedside table." She said pointing to her side of the bed.  
He looked over at it, and then back at her, frowning, before walking over to it.

"It's on your side of the bed, why is it on your side of the bed?" he said, laying out on the bed and activating it.  
The gloves popped out and he grasped hold of them, activating the assembly of the rest of the suit.

"That's irrelevant, why are you suiting up?" she asked him, walking out of the bathroom.  
"Is it New York, are they ready for the new Arc Reactor, they can wait." She asked him sweetly to stay in the kind of language he would understand.

"No, it's not New York." He said, just as the suit finished assembling, leaving the faceplate so he could talk to her.  
"You know the guy who blew up the old stark tower, reindeer horn helmet guy…" he said, gesturing with his hands to the likeness on Loki's helmet.

"Loki…" Pepper had to articulate his thoughts for him to understand what was going on.

"Yeah, him, he's, kinda… back…" he frowned at her, knowing what she would say.

"Oh no, you're not going out there with the Mark 4." she said to him as he walked to the window and opened it fully.

"Mark 4.3, actually." He corrected her.

"I don't care, it's not the Mark 8." She said to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.  
"Please Tony, stay." She begged him.

"Pepper, I need to sort this out. Then we can go for that gondola ride. I'll be back before you get too lonely, promise." He said, flipping the faceplate down, activating the glowing eyes.  
"Irrelevant, what do you mean irrelevant, it's my suit, it should be on my side." He said in his funny Starkstastic tone of voice, before jetting off.

"TONY!" she shouted out after him.

"Love ya!" he shouted back, before disappearing behind a building, the water drops falling back down to the waterway after his blast off.

Loki and Vara were sitting happily on the bench, unaware that a small army of firepower was heading their way. Loki's eyes panned over the crowds and he smiled. He had been here a total of an hour and no one had showed up to kill him yet. He was getting better at sneaking into realms.

"It's so peaceful here." Vara said, leaning her head back onto the top of the bench back, hearing the birds singing and the children playing in the nearby water fountain.

"They can scream when they have to." Loki said, looking to her face, seeing the smile on her face.

"I'm sure you've made a few of them scream." She said, not lifting her head, but turning it to look at him, smiling.  
He knew immediately what she meant by that.

"Oh no, not humans. They, are well beneath me, and not in a good way." He said, looking out over the crowd.  
"Not like I make you scream." He said, smirking and looked back at her.  
She blushed and smiled, before she turned away from him. That reminded him.  
He turned to face her more head on, placing his elbow on the bench back and leaning his head on his hand, beginning to relax.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he asked her.  
She turned and looked at him, still blushing.

"Do what?" she asked him.

"Hiding your smile from me. Don't you want me to see that you find me amusing?" he asked her.  
Suddenly the look on her face went from young and jovial to serious and solemn.

"I… I don't want you fall in love with me." she admitted softly to him.  
He knew that he wasn't going to fall for her, but he was unaware of the fact that she didn't want him to fall for her.

"Why?" he asked her.

"It seems, or at least feels like, I'm cursed." She said, beginning to fidget.

"How so?" he asked her, moving closer, intrigued.

"Everyone I ever love and who loves me, dies or disappears." She said, before looking up at him.  
"I know I haven't known you very long, but I feel like that the fates did mean for us to meet." She said to him.  
"And I don't want to lose you, Loki." she admitted to him, talking hold of his hand. "So you must never love me, no matter if I love you." She said to him.  
He nodded, understanding her fear. He once suffered from the same fear, briefly, after leaving Asgard.

"And maybe, the other side to that, is that I don't feel worthy of you." She admitted another bombshell to him.  
He frowned and turned to her.

"Why?" he asked her.

"You're a king, and not only a king, a god." She said to him.  
"I'm nothing but a young little queen in a realm that you must not even have known existed until you crash landed there by mistake." She said to him.

"Not by mistake." He said, looking up at her eyes.  
"The fates did intend for us to meet. And there's a reason for it. Trust me." he said to her, before smiling.

"Trust you, yeah that didn't work out so well for me." someone said from the crowd.

Loki and Vara looked up, only to see that the park was slowly being evacuated. They didn't even notice, until Barton was standing in front of them. Loki stood up, trying to control his anger. Before he could even say a word, Tony landed next to him with a thump. His face plate flipped up and he looked at Loki.

"What are you doing back here Loki?" Tony asked him.  
Vara stood up and took Loki by the hand, hiding slightly behind him. She didn't even know what these being were capable of.

"What's happening?" she whispered to him.  
Barton and Tony looked over at Vara and then back at Loki.

"So I'm guessing she hasn't heard what you did to New York." Tony said to him, holding out his hand for Vara. She looked at it and then back at the man in the metal suit.

"Loki, I wanna go home now." she said to him, not taking her eyes off Tony.

"Miss, we will take you home, but please, we need you to step away from him and leave the park." Barton said, attempting to take hold of her arm.  
She ripped it away from him and a low hiss broke out of her lips.

"Don't touch me human." She hissed threateningly to him, the red glow of her eyes becoming clear through the dark glasses. Also the fact that her red cuts appeared couldn't hide the fact that she wasn't human.  
Barton stepped back, having realised that she was like Loki, in some strange kinda way.

"Another space invader, where do you find these guys?" Tony asked Loki, trying to fill the silence.  
"But at lease this one is better looking than the last ones." He said, smiling at Vara.

Vara squeezed Loki's hand. He knew what to do. He quickly created a vortex and they fell through, heading back to Muspelheim. Barton and Tony looked down into the vortex to see the dead and burned landscape of Muspelheim just before the vortex closed. They were left staring at a green patch of grass.  
Tony sighed and looked at Barton.

"Hi." Tony said, holding out his hand.

"Long time no see." Barton took his hand and shook it.

"Are we done here, I got a date to get to?" Tony asked him, flipping his faceplate down.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Barton sighed heavily, looking back at the patch of green grass.  
Tony nodded.

"See you next time." he said, before blasting off, heading back to Venice.

Barton contacted director Fury again.

"Sir, he's gone." Barton said to him.  
"But I think it's not the last time we're going to see him." he added, walking off towards where the crowd was gathering to see if it was safe to go back into the park.  
"He had another hostile with him, and they disappeared into a vortex." Barton explained.

"Did you happen to see anything on the other side of that vortex?" Fury asked him.  
"It looked like a lava field, sir. At night." Barton said, giving the all clear to the police that the park was clear with a waving hand.

"A lava field?" Fury asked.

"That's what I saw, sir." Barton said.

"Well done. Now get back, we need to debrief you." Fury ordered, hanging up. Barton hung up and put his phone away. Things were about to get very ugly.


	18. Chapter 18

They landed in the middle of Vara's bed, toppling under the not so secure footing. He dropped to the bed on all fours, breathing heavily as she stumbled back and leaned against the wall at the head of the bed, breathing just as hard.

"What… the hell… was that?" she asked, with a slight twinge of anger bubbling under her visible fear.  
He looked down from her, trying to find a way to explain it to her without blowing his entire cover.  
"An ambush?" she asked, standing up threateningly in the bed.

"No, no, nothing like that." He said, reaching out and taking her hand as a reassurance.  
She pulled her hand away from his grasp and looked at him. He was scared too, and he was sweating like she had never seen him sweat before.

"They clearly knew you." She began to reason.  
He nodded.

"Yes, they do. They were part of the team that defeated me in another one of the Midgardians cities." He said, as she dropped down to sit on the bed in front of him.

"When you attacked them with the Chitauri?" she asked him, crossing her legs under her.  
He nodded.

"As far as they knew, I was locked away in an Asgardian jail cell and I still was. It was a shock for them to see me out and about, and with you." He said to her, laying his staff down next to him, changing his clothes and hers, back to normal.

"That reminds me, how did you escape?" she asked him.

"Thor was dumb enough to take the mask off momentarily, enough for me to get away and cast a spell. It brought me here." he said to her.

"Mask, what mask?" she asked him.

"I'll explain another time. It was a dreadful thing. It repulses me." he said, hissing the word 'repulses'.  
She nodded and thought back to the incident. The iron man and the man with a bow and quiver of arrows.  
Who were they exactly, and how would she defeat them when Loki couldn't.

"The man in the metal casing, who was he?" she asked him.

"I know him only as Stark. He has a thing for beautiful women as Barton, the other man, told me when I controlled his mind." He said, looking up at her from under his mop of black hair.

"Hence his attraction to you." He pointed out.  
She could feel her skin shiver at the thought.  
"But this encounter has told me something." He said to her.  
"They are expecting me to come back." he said to her.  
"And they have greatly improved the weapons, no doubt." He said, looking away from her, about to give her the bad news.  
"The new weapons will be able to hurt me, and you." He said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Then we call it off. I won't risk losing you." She said, reaching over and touching his knee. He shook his head.

"We are days away. We can't call it off. Your people have no more food left. We need to take Midgard." He said, looking back at her.  
"This war, with Midgard is a last resort, and you should make contingency plans in case we lose the war." He said to her, knowing full well that Thor would be involved in the defence of Midgard, and they would be carted of to Asgard if captured.  
He would likely face another fate. Having escaped once; they would most likely not make it as easy the second time around.

"We won't lose. We can't afford to." she said to him solemnly.  
The fact that they only had enough food for a few days once the war started was something that hung over her head heavily.  
He looked at her, and laughed slyly at her naivety.

"You have no idea what those, humans, are capable of. They stopped me before and they will do better the second time around." He said, as if trying to talk her out of a war he had just insisted on.

Maybe, subconsciously, he was begging her to stay and let the soldiers take Midgard. Maybe he was suggesting that she take herself out of the firing line. Maybe he was trying to keep her safe.  
But all it did was spur her on. She smiled at him, and he knew he had seen that smile before. It was the same smile Thor gave him the day that they went to Jötunheim. The day he was banished to Midgard. The day that changed Loki's life.

"Then there is very little time to waste." She said, jumping off the bed and heading to the door.

"No. Definitely not Vara." He said to her, already able to read her mind, jumping off the bed and heading after her.

"Why not?" she asked, her hand on the door handle.  
"We are ready for war now, and if we move quickly, they won't have time to form their forces." She said to him, trying to convince him to wade into war with her.

He shook his head, and for once, his conscience got the better of him. Her, in the middle of a war, one compared to the one he had fought on Midgard, would kill her. He couldn't have that. Not when he was so close…  
He walked up to her, placing his hand over hers on the door handle.

"Forget everything I told you. The war is off." He said to her.  
She looked up at him and he looked at her, and their eyes connected.  
"Please stop." He asked her, nay, begged.

"It's too late, I've made up my mind. Everyone is ready." She said, trying to open the door but he pushed it closed again.

"I am a god and you will obey me." he said to her, pulling out his one last card, hoping she would fold. She wouldn't.  
She smiled at him and let go of the door handle. She closed the inches between them, holding his gaze.

"Yeah, and?" she threatened him.

"Don't make me use my powers of persuasion on you Vara." He asked her, turning slightly away from her.

"You may be a god, but I am queen of this realm. And you are my mate." She said, pushing him violently back into the wall behind him.  
"You want to be happy… keep me happy." She said to him, placing her hand on his chest and holding him against the wall.  
He was completely capable of pushing back and overpowering her, but why take the fun out of it? She lifted her hand off his chest.

"Or what?" he asked her.

"Or I can make you sweat. More than those humans did. Trust me." she said, walking back to the door.  
She opened it and walked out.  
"Get ready, we move out in a few hours." She said to him as she walked down the hall.  
He sighed heavily, out of both pleasure and dread. He knew she would lose this war and she would be imprisoned and or, killed. He had to convince her to stay.

She went down to the barracks and informed the war generals to get their troops ready. In a few hours, they would go to Midgard. To take it for themselves. The cheering from the soldiers made it clearly to Loki, that a lot of lives would be lost tonight. Bloodlust was never a good thing to have in battle.

Vara left the barracks to the sound of weapons being sharpened and old war songs drowning out the running of the soldiers to get their things together.  
She had just two more last stops to make.  
As she walked back into the palace, her advisor was there to meet her.

"What's happening?" the old man asked her, having been woken from his sleep.

"I'm pushing the war forward. We move out in a few hours." She informed him, as formally as she could.  
"Just, do me one favour." She asked him, her mask crumbling slightly, and the fear clearly audible.  
"When we leave, and if the plan fails," she stopped, having to come to grips that it might be possible.  
"Lead my people, as regent. Look after them." she asked him softly and sadly.  
He nodded to her, as if it was a given that he would. She nodded in response and looked up to her room.  
"I'm going to prepare." She said, looking back at him.

"Your father will want to see you, my queen, before to move out." He said, calling her back. She looked at him over her shoulder and nodded. She knew she couldn't just leave this as they were. She might never see him again.  
"Do you know where he is?" she asked him.

"The Ember garden." he said softly. She took in the information and turned to face him.

"Farewell my friend." She smiled at him.

"Farewell for now, my queen." He bowed and she smiled.

She walked off, towards the back of the palace, to where her father had his little garden of glowing embers growing slowly. She didn't know why, but being here always made him happy, then sad.  
She stopped at the doorway and looked out at him tending to his little embers. She took in a deep breath, gathered he wits about her and walked out to him.

"Father, may I have a word?" she said, walking carefully amongst the little growing embers steaming at her feet.

"Yes, but be careful, they're slow growers." He said, turning to look at her as she made her way through the maze.  
"I hear the troops being rowdy, has something happened?" he asked her, returning to watering his plants with lava.

"Yes." she said, sighing as well, it was enough to make him perk up and listen to her. Being off the throne had turned him into a more gentle soul.  
"I'm moving the war forward." She said abruptly.

He turned and looked at her. He always knew this day would come. As soon as she had any power, she would run from Muspelheim and seek out other realms and pleasures. Just as he once did in his youth when his skin was still bright red.

"When?" he asked her shortly.

"A few hours. We can't waste any more time, the people are starving. Midgard can help." she said, outlining the plan to him.

"By force." He added.

"By force." She agreed.  
He nodded and looked at her.

"Are you taking the sword?" he asked her, looking at the ground, and then looking at her eyes.

"Yes. I've figured out how to open the chest." She said.  
He turned and looked at her. A frown burrowing into his brow.

"Pray tell." He asked her.

"Mom always said that the truth hurts. She said, the once you accept it, it will make you stronger, and then you can wield any sword." She basically explained the only reason that no one could ever open it. One, they were men, and two; she had never accepted the truth.  
It was code, all along, it only took her 550 years to figure it out.

"And, what is your truth?" he asked her, turning to face her on fully.

She blinked twice and looked up at him.  
"I never expected to love Loki, but, I do." She said, as a smiled broke out over her lips.  
"The truth is I love Loki." she smiled stupidly to herself. He smiled at her and walked up to her, placing a huge hand on her shoulder.

"An Asgardian?" he asked her and she nodded.

"It's so strange, but yes, he's like me. We are two sides of the same coin." She smiled. He smiled back at her and tilted his head slightly to look at her.

"I'm glad for you, Vara. And I hope you can get the sword and take Midgard." He said, lifting his hand and balling it up into fist before gently nudging it against she jaw.  
"Remember who you are and you will always win. Losing isn't in our nature." He smiled.  
This, brought a tear to her and eye, and before she could help herself, she flung her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.

"Thank you, dad." She whispered.  
He smiled and rubbed her back softly.  
"I'll take Midgard for you." She said, breaking away reluctantly.  
He shook his head and looked at her. He placed one finger under her chin and made her to look at him.

"No, take Midgard, for you." He said to her, smiling at her proudly.  
She nodded, a tear of lava falling to the ground.

"I have to go now." she said to him. He nodded and pushed her gently away from him.

"Go, and hopefully, when you return, these Flame Lilies will have opened." He said, turning his attention back to his embers.  
She rolled her eyes and him and smiled.

"See you later." She said, turning and walking off.  
He turned and watched her leave. He could never have been more proud of his little girl. Having lived on the throne for so long, his public visage had somehow become tangled up in his private personality. He loved her, and for the first time, he was able to show her that.

She walked off, thinking about what had just happened. Had her father's icy heart finally, after 550 years, thawed? It must be, or else he would never let her embrace him. She walked off, slowly making her way back to her room.

Loki was suited up and ready to go, his back turned to her door as she walked in. His helmet was on the bed and he was looking out over the barracks.

"Ready?" she asked him, walking in. He turned his head and looked at her. He nodded, his game face on. He knew what would happen here tonight, but he needed to get to that little blue box.

"Vara." He said, turning and walking towards her.  
"Can we just have a little fun, before…" he asked her.

"I need all my energy Loki, I'm running on empty as it is." She said, reaching up and rubbing her temples.  
He nodded. He understood. Not all beings had the amount of energy the Asgardians had.

"Promise me if things get hairy up there, that you'll come with me." he said, taking hold of her hands in his. She smiled at him. Was this love he was showing? No, it was concern.

"Where to?" she asked him.

"I don't know, just away. Out of Thor's grasp." He asked her.  
She shook her head gently.

"No, I stand by my men. Till the end." She said to him.  
He sighed. She had made this too easy for him. What he was planning would break her, but he felt better knowing she would choose to stay with her people.

He nodded. She nodded to him and walked past him, and began putting on her battle armour. He helped her with the straps she couldn't get to. When she was done, she turned and smiled at him.

"One last thing." She said, walking past him out of the room. She went down to the weapons vault.

She went to the end of the dark, dingy passage as the guards looking on, and into Laevateinn's chamber. They all looked at each other. The sword hadn't been seen for thousands of years, it was rumoured to be the most beautiful sword in existence, as most deadly things are.

She walked slowly up to the silver chest and took in a deep breath as she reached it. She leaned down, as if to whisper to the chest. She had no idea if this would work. She recalled her mother telling her that the truth, no matter how unbelievable to others, would open the chest and grant the user the full power of the sword. She whispered a few words and waited. Nothing happened and she sighed.

But then suddenly, the dusty locks shattered into a million glimmering pieces onto the stone floor, and the chains fell off, clanging onto the floor. She stood back, and contemplated what she had just whispered. It must have been the truth, or the chest would not have opened. She reached out to the lid with shaking hands. She lifted it and swung it open slowly, the metal hinges creaking as she did.

Inside, was Laevateinn, the silver sword that was foretold to be the one to take Odin's life one day. With red glowing lava running up and down the blade, like veins in a living being, forming some kind of ancient runic symbols in glowing glory. The large silver handle was shiny and glorious, with the same kind of ancient runic writings carved into the silver. She reached out and grasped hold of the hilt, unsure if it would be like Mjölnir, only the worthy may lift it.

But she would try anyway. She felt her muscles begin to react to the sword, as if it was connecting with her on a physical and neurological level before she finally was able to lift it slowly out of its dark dungeon, as if it was a feather from a Valkyrie's wing. She turned slowly to face the exit, admiring the sword in the light of the torches in the hands on the guards. It was truly beautiful.

She looked up to see the guards standing with their hands over their heart, with their heads inclined to her. It was also foretold that the one whom the sword chose to wield it, would bring Muspelheim into a new age. Perhaps this is why her father never attempted to take Asgard, never being able to open the chest and take the sword, he must have thought that his victory would never be assured without it. Superstitions ran rife in Muspel, but Vara never really took any note of them. She made her own destiny, not some wrinkled old piece of parchment.

She lifted the sword's razor sharp tip to her scabbard and slid it into the leather. The lava began to melt channels and runes into the black leather, the pieces dropping to the floor, and allowing it's heat and glow to shine through. She began to walk back up, walking past the guards who parted for her and she slowly made her way back up to the throne room.

When she got to the room, her mind playing on what the repercussions of her being able to wield the sword was, she missed that fact that Loki and the war generals were waiting for her. She looked up at them after a few moments. She turned and locked the vault door again. There were still weapons in there that the Asgardians would love to get hold of. She turned back to them and nodded, gesturing that she was now ready, hoping they wouldn't notice the sword. She walked up to them and stopped in front of them.

"We're ready?" she asked them, and everyone nodded in unison.

"Take your staff." Loki told her.

"No, I have something better." She said to him, showing him the running lava in the scabbard.

He nodded, knowing she had taken the legendary sword. He knew of the legend that this sword would take the life of the Allfather, having being told by Vara herself. Did that mean that she was going to kill his father… Odin, Loki thought, correcting himself. He walked up to her and stopped in front of her.

"Ready?" he asked her softly.  
She nodded quickly, hiding her fear. This was her first real fight, and she was leading the attack. At least Loki was there to help her. She would rely heavily on him.

"Very well. Let's go." He said, taking her hand.  
They walked out to the old Bifrost site, where her father was, waiting to wish her luck. Without many words, he hugged her, wished her good luck and left, to go back to his garden. Vara watched him leave, wondering if she would ever see him again. When everyone one was there, assembled and ready for war, Loki warped them all to Midgard.


	19. Chapter 19

Vara had warned all her troops that the sun would be very bright in Midgard and that they all had to try their very best to try and get used to it quickly.  
They landed out in the middle of a desert. In the nearby distance was a huge red rock that looked like it had scars running down its face to the ground.

"What is this place?" Vara asked Loki, seeing her troops trying to get used to the sunlight. It was a good thing that they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. They had some time to adjust. The sun was just setting and still it seemed to be very bright. Much brighter than Muspelheim anyway.

"The humans call it Australia." He said to her before looking over at the troops.  
All this time, all the effort and seduction tactics came down to the next 24 hours. He only hoped that when everything was said and done, that he had a queen to rule with him. Despite his aversions to love and emotions, he had grown fond of Vara and her company.

As she watched, his battle armour fading out of nowhere and covering him. His helmet with the horns included, along with the short staff that now seemed to have grown longer. It was now a battle staff.

"According to their day-night cycle, it is the first kingdom to experience night. The first one to take as our own." He said, looking to her.  
She smiled and nodded.

"MEN!" she shouted over her troops, and they turned and looked at her, keeping quiet.  
"WITH THE DYING OF THIS DAY, IT MEANS THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR THE SONS OF MUSPEL!" she shouted.  
"TONIGHT WE TAKE MIDGARD FOR OURSELVES!" she added, panning her eyes across her legions of warriors.  
"AND ALL THE BOUNTY THIS REALM HAS TO OFFER!" she shouted, panning back across.  
"AND THEN, ASGARD WILL FALL!" she shouted, before pulling out the sword and holding it up in the air, the glowing lava lighting the ground at her feet.  
Her men began to cheer, holding up their own weapons, and chanting old battle songs.  
"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN… LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" they began to chant, getting the bloodlust flowing for the upcoming battle.

Vara smiled and looked over at Loki. This would be a walk in the park and soon, her people would be feasting in the great banquet hall of Asgard.

"I think I'll make Odin my pet." She smiled to Loki, knowing this would please him.  
"Or I could give him to you to do with what ever you wish." She smiled to him, as he men chanted in the background.  
He smirked and looked back at her.

"Let's take Midgard first, and then we can talk about adopting a pet." He smiled his silver smile at her.  
She smiled and nodded once.

"Where to first?" she asked him.

"Take ten of your finest warriors, and then we take this kingdom." He said to her.  
She nodded and looked to her troops.

She picked ten of the biggest, most fearsome Giants in the legion and they stepped forward. She told them that they were going off alone and leaving the others here. They would return for them later. She instructed the war generals to keep the troops calm and keep them where they were. They would begin to take country by country, coming back to rotate soldiers when they needed new blood and energy. They agreed, as did the men. Vara took Loki's hand and the soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder, touching slightly as Loki warped them to the residence of the Australian king.

All was quiet at the Kirribilli House, in Sydney and the Prime Minister had just come home from finishing off work. She put her handbag down on the entrance hall table and rubbed her aching neck. She flipped the light switch and the light went on. Nothing seemed to be out of place, just as it was every night when she came home from work. She walked down the hall to her study with her removable disc hung around her neck. She had some files to update before dinner. She sat down at her computer and switched it on. It ran through the system checks and as soon as it reached the home desktop, it cut out, the screen dying and turning black. Moments later, the lights went off and the hum of technology died out. She sighed. Good thing she hadn't began to work yet.

"Frank, could you flip that mains switch back on for me please." she called to her butler.  
She heard the footsteps as he walked over to the DB board, opening the metal flap and flipping the switch, but nothing happened.

"It must be a local power outage maa…." He said to her, before it sounded like he was being choked at the last word.  
Julia stood up off her chair and tried to look into the darkness, trying to see what had happened to her faithful butler.

"Frank…" she called out to him.  
She heard footsteps, two people leading a large group of others. The only things she could see was the glowing orange runic symbols from Vara's sword and the blue mind gem from Loki's staff as they entered the room.

"Hello." Vara said to her, using some of the swords powers to light the room.  
"Frank won't be coming to your aid tonight. He's a little, preoccupied." She smiled, flashing her white smile at her.

"Who are you, what do you want, what have you done to Frank… SECURITY!" she shouted.

"How do you think we got in here?" Loki smiled at her, moving over to one of the black leather tub chairs in the corner of the room.  
Julia looked at Vara.

"Are they all dead?" she asked Vara, who clearly was the dominate force to be handled first.

"No, only one or two." Vara said, stepping up closer to the desk.

"There were only five." Julia said to her, clearly angry by the events.

"Oh well, still, not all of them are dead." Vara smiled.  
"Can we get on with business, I'm a little pressed for time." she added, sitting down on the edge of the desk, her side turned to Julia.

"I assume you're here to kill me." Julia asked her, trying to stall her but reaching for the emergency button under her desk.

"Don't bother calling for help." Vara said to her, flashing her sword at her, pointing the tip right at her nose, lighting up her face contours in deep orange.  
"One of the effects of Laevateinn. All technology dies around her." she said, smiling at the sword, lowering as she saw Julia's hand come out from under the desk.

"So your name is Laevateinn." Julia asked, sitting down in the chair.

"No, that it the name of my sword." Vara said, getting comfortable.  
"See, I come from a place where legends are real, and swords still have souls, and thus, names." Vara explained to her.  
"My name is Vara Surtrdóttir, Queen of Muspelheim." She added, letting it sink in.

"Muspelheim, I know that story." Julia said to her, realising that Australia was on the forefront of yet another alien invasion. They had clearly learnt, hitting them when they least expected with a small, undetectable force.

"It's no story. I am the queen. Like I said, legends are real. That handsome man over there," she said, gesturing to Loki.  
"That is Loki, the god of mischief." Vara said, turning back to her.

"Okay, I believe you." Julia said; understanding that in their heads, they might think they were a god and a queen.  
"Why are you here?" she added.

"I believe your race calls this a coup." Vara said.

"No my love, a coup implies that someone from government is taking over. This is just a hostile take over." Loki said to her.  
She looked over at him and smiled.

"True." She said, looking back at Julia.

"This is a hostile take over." Vara smiled.

Loki watched on as she negotiated with Julia, and as soon as she realised just how powerful and resilient the Giants were, and what number of men they had behind them, she surrendered the continent to them. She pledged allegiance to Vara and she accepted rule of the kingdom of Australia.

She mentioned to her that other kingdoms might ask for her help in defending them, but she instructed her that she was to tell them to surrender, or feel the full wrath of the realm of Muspelheim. She agreed, wanting to avoid as much human loss of life as she could. Vara and her guards had already killed most of the men that tried to stop them from entering the household.

After legally signing over the kingdom, Vara and the others warped back to the army, leaving two Giants in Australia with the Prime Minster. Vara didn't want to kill her, but if she attempted to make a break for it, her men were instructed to do so.

She chose another two warriors from her army that were waiting patiently in the centre of Australia and went off to the next kingdom.

Kingdom by kingdom fell, unable to stop the Giants or find a weakness to exploit. They all signed over the kingdoms, insuring that little blood was spilt. Exactly what Loki was expecting. The show of power was enough to make the weak humans buckle.

They moved with the shadows, taking all the kingdoms that fell into the dark, and soon there was but one kingdom left.

"New York." Loki said to Vara as they stood atop the head of a huge green statue of a woman holding a torch and a book.  
"Normally, we would have to go to the king's palace, but he's here, according to my spies." He said to her while her soldiers practiced down below on the star shaped platform on the island. Loki had noticed something strange though. The city was slightly quieter than he remembered. And there were no ships in the harbour. None whatsoever, as if they had all fled. Well, most of them anyway. That was fine; it just meant that the city would fall all the sooner. He would say nothing to Vara. She was doing to well. The last thing she needed was another facet of things to think about.

"I see." She said, looking out over the twinkling lights of the city.  
"Shall we go looking for him?" she turned to Loki and asked.  
He nodded.

"The streets will be blocked off and there will be security all over the place." He said to her.

"So, quietly." She said, looking down at her men, shouting and chanting getting ready.

"Yes, they must stay here. We need to go into this one as stealthily as possible." he said.  
She nodded and turned, before jumping off the statue, falling the 93 meters down to the ground before landing on the ground as nimbly like a cat, with a loud thump. The ground and lawn fractured at her feet due to the impact. She stood up and walked over to her men.

"You will be staying here. We need to go in quietly. With very little attention." She said to them. There was silence, but it was clear that there was a problem.

"My queen, if I may speak freely?" one stepped forward, with his hand over his heart.

"Go ahead." She said to him, looking over to him as he stepped forward.

"Can you trust him?" he asked, looking up to see only the green cape fluttering in the breeze. She looked up at Loki and smiled warmly.

"Yes." she said, looking back at her soldier.

"It's just, you've just been made queen, and if you die without an heir, then Muspelheim will break out into a civil war." He said to her.  
She shook her head quickly.

"I have made other plans if things go, unfortunately. Besides, my father still lives, so he'll take the throne back." she reasoned.  
"One more kingdom, then we own this rock." She reminded them.

"Still, my queen, I don't trust him." he said to her, begging her take one of them along with her and to leave Loki behind.

"I trust him." she said to him, before turning and walking back to where she landed a few moments before.  
"With my life." she said quickly before bounding back up to Loki's side.

"Okay, we can go." She said to him, taking hold of his hand. He smiled and warped them into the city.


	20. Chapter 20

They were transported to the front of the Empire State building, where the president was supposed to be a guest at a conference focusing on global warming and the effects it would have on the future of the planet. Loki found it quite poetic that a queen that could control lava would take the planet at this time. But as soon as they got there and Loki looked around, something felt off. The lights were all on in the city, despite Vara's sword and all its effects. The city was given the appearance of functioning normally, but there were no people in the streets, or the buildings. Loki looked into the lobby of the building and saw that the desk was unmanned. Something was seriously wrong here.

"Something's wrong." Loki said, walking slowly towards the doors to see if the occupants were hiding perhaps.

"What?" she asked, adrenalin still pumping through her veins from the other takeovers, she was looking around. It did feel like they were being watched. Loki peered through the glass wall and looked around in the lobby of the Empire State building and it soon became obvious that the city was being used as a stage. They had the lights and props, now they were waiting for the action. He turned and walked back to Vara.

He didn't know what was going on, but nothing good is what his gut told him. The sound of the city was missing. The cars running and hooting, people talking and shouting, music from the bars and the screaming that followed a first attack.

"What's going on, where's all the humans?" Vara asked, quietly drawing her sword, her gut telling her the same thing. Something was about to happen.  
"This is a trap, isn't it?" she asked, not looking at Loki, but instead scanning for life.

Then she heard it, a heartbeat, and then another, followed by several more, followed by feint footsteps that grew louder. Neither one noticed that there was a silent storm brew overhead, with lightning jumping from cloud to voluminous cloud. The first thing she saw a round device, presumably used for protection, coming around a corner of a building slowly. It had a pair of blue legs attached to it. Frost giant, she thought, but then the legs were not long enough to be a Frost Giant. In the centre of this shield was a white star on a background of blue, surrounded by consecutive rings of red and white. It was moving, hence it was being carried.

Vara tapped Loki on the shoulder, and pointed at it, but he didn't look. He was too preoccupied with the huge green beast perched just a few floors above them, looking down at them, as if ready to drop and destroy them.  
In the opposite building, was Hawkeye with his grenade tipped arrows, poised and ready to loose one.

"Loki…" she whispered to him, her voice trembling slightly.

"I know." He said to her, knowing she was going to tell him it was a trap.

They had planned for this, for someone to rise up against them. This threw her completely off balance. Was this the same force that prevented Loki's initial attack on Midgard? She hoped not.  
Standing back to back, she slowly reached back for his hand as he did for hers, but then the sound of miniature jet engines filled their ears. They both looked to the middle of the street and saw that the metal man had just landed, with a loud clang, and the black ground at his feet cracked and broken. He stood up right and was now holding up his hands to them, his palms glowing white hot. Vara drew a quick breathe. It was the same force that had stopped Loki.

"Step away from each other." He ordered them.

Vara looked at him and now felt incredibly insulted that he, this mere human, was ordering her around.  
She made to storm towards him, her sword drawn, but Loki grabbed her arm. She stopped and heard a few windows breaking above them. The broken pieces of glass rained down on them and she had to satisfy her curiosity and look what had caused the glass to break. She looked up slowly, to see the hulking green beast hanging over them, having moved lower now; he was just meters away from them. She could see the green tinge of his skin and the furious anger in his eyes. But at least, Thor wasn't here.

"Stop, before he drops." Loki whispered to her.  
She pulled away from Loki angrily and looked up at the beast.

"You think I'm afraid of you!" she shouted up at the Hulk.  
He growled at her, not moving.

"Trust me, he packs a punch, you don't want to anger him further." Loki whispered to her.

"And now that we know you're on Loki's side, he doesn't discriminate against gender." The metal man said to Vara.  
She looked to where the round shield was and saw that the pair of blue legs was a man in a blue suit holding the shield, with a woman with red hair and a black leather suit standing behind him.

"The whole team is here, how heartening." Loki began to taunt them.  
"But the five of you are no match for us. Not alone." He smiled, deftly remarking on the absence of his brother, Thor.

As if on cue and as if it was scripted and planned, a loud lightning bolt lit up the sky and struck the ground between them and the metal man, cracking the ground and melting the tar, turning it into a soft gooey pool of blackness.

When the light faded, Thor was standing there, looking at Loki and Vara, with his faithful hammer, Mjölnir, in his right hand. Vara gasped out loud, much to the surprise of everyone there. Now that Thor was there, now she was scared?  
She had never seen Thor, and he was just as imposing as the scrolls had said. How was she to beat him, alone, without the help of Loki's magic. Surely there was no way. But if this was to be the end, then she would go down fighting, tooth and nail. Loki, feeling her skin turn cold suddenly with the shock, felt the deep urge to protect her, and stepped out in front of her, pulling her back slightly behind him.

"Brother." Thor greeted Loki.

"How many times do I need to tell you, I'm not your brother." Loki said to him, venom dripping form every word.

Thor said nothing, but in turn looked to Vara, who at this stage would have rather taken her chances with the green beast than Thor.

"How did you get to Midgard?" he asked her.  
She didn't answer her, her bitter tongue now caught up in the trap of shock.  
Loki said nothing either. Thor smiled and looked at the ground, shaking his head. He already knew the answer to that question. He looked back up at her, making a quick glance to Loki at her side. They were still holding hands tightly, conveying yet another message to Thor. They were a couple.

"Of course, my trickster brother and his veiled gateways." He nodded, understanding now.  
"As the king of Asgard, I shall issue you and your warriors but one caution. Return to Muspelheim, or we will consign even more unsympathetic demands against you and your citizens." He said to her, stating his wishes and conditions if she would choose to disregard them.

He was using big words, trying to confuse her. This is where she had to make her stand. She was not to be walked over, and he had to know that. She was not going to lie down like an obedient dog like her father did all those years ago. She stood up right, squared her shoulders and stepped out from behind Loki. Loki looked to his left side and looked at her eyes, glowing red with anger and bloodlust. She was going to fight on, wager in taking earth, and relieving the catastrophe on Muspelheim.

"I will not surrender." She said, looking at Thor with purpose in her eyes.  
"I own this realm, safe for this little kingdom." She said, looking to the others, making them aware of her accomplishments for the night.  
"You and your sanctions have driven us to this." She said to Thor, meeting his eyes again.  
"How else am I supposed to feed my people?" she asked him, pointing her sword tip at him.  
"So as payment for your crimes against my people, I will take this realm, and consider your request when the time comes for me to take Asgard." She said to him, twisting her blade slightly, so that he could see that it was Laevateinn.  
"That is my bargain." She said, before smiling at him.  
He stepped up towards her, taking slow meaningful steps.

"You are horribly mistaken if you think that we will simply let you take Midgard." He said to her, with the growl of the green beast ringing in her ears behind her.

"I already have." She smiled.

"Australia, China, Russia, Europe, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Brazil… where were you when your people needed you?" she asked the others more so than Thor.  
"They answer to me now. This is but the last pebble on the mountaintop." She smiled.

"Then this where we will make our last stand." She heard the man behind the shield say to her. She looked over at him and saw just how brave he was with his blue eyes and blond hair.

"Before I break your legs, yes." she smiled at him.

She heard the beast drop down behind them onto the ground. She looked back to see Loki backing away from the beast. The beast stepped into the light and Vara saw him in the light of the lobby. He was huge, but no more than her biggest warrior. This would be an interesting match up indeed.

"I have a friend for you to meet later." She smiled at him.  
Hulk became visibly angry, more so than normal at least, and he made to rush at her. Loki was too far away from her now, having moved away from the Hulk and he looked to her, knowing the beast would crush her. His eyes grew wide, as if knowing instinctively, this would be the last moment of her life, and the last time he would see here. He wouldn't get to her in time, even with his magic. Yet, she stood, ready to try and take him, facing certain death.

"STOP!" Thor shouted and the beast stopped, his hands held out ready to wrap around her neck and shatter every bone in it.  
"You and I shall converse about your troubles." Thor said to her, walking up to her side.  
"You need to feed your people, maybe we can work out a diplomatic solution to this problem, without sacrificing Midgard." Thor tried to talk some logic into her Loki'd mind.  
She looked to him and saw that he was sincere in his proposal. She nodded, before looking back at the beast. She smiled and stepped towards Loki.

"We need to go back to the island." She said to Loki, commanding him more than asking. He nodded, looking to Thor.

"The Statue of Liberty, brother. We'll be waiting." Loki said, before warping away from the scene with Vara.  
Everyone took a breath of relief but they all knew it was far from over.

"What now?" Hawkeye radioed down to them.

"They're going to negotiate." Steve replied to him.

"We can't negotiate on the safety of earth." Tony said, flipping his face plate up and walking up to Thor.

"Do not worry, Tony. I will not back down from that point." He said, placing his hand on his shoulder.  
"But please understand, I need to think of Asgard as well." He said, looking around as the others gathered around him.

"If they are such a tight spot that they need to take our planet, then maybe you should lift the sanctions." Steve said to him.

"If I do that, then they can grow stronger and attack Asgard. We could never stand against them if they are at full power potential." Thor shook his head.

"So either way, Asgard will go to war." Tony summed it up for them.

"It would appear so, Tony." Thor sighed.  
An uneasy silence filled the air between the group. Tony, being the one who couldn't stand the silence the most, decided to throw some humour out there.

"Well, I got thousands of missiles stockpiled, if you're interested." He said to Thor.  
Thor laughed, but it was an uneasy and uncomfortable laugh.

"I will keep that in mind Tony, but you may want to keep them for Midgard." He said, beginning to swing Mjölnir.  
He soon took of in a gust of wind and made his way over to Liberty Island.

Accompanied by both thunder and lightning, he crashed down onto the ground, kneeling as he landed. He looked up to see Loki, Vara and ten warriors looking at him. He stood up and saw the warriors getting ready to fight him.

"Steady." Vara ordered them, stepping forward. Her warriors calmed slightly, but were still eager to rip his head off.  
"I will hear you now." she made to walk off, but Loki pulled her back, seeing the look in Thor's eyes. Loki knew him well, he was going to try and get her to surrender if he lifted the sanctions.

"Do not trust him." Loki whispered to her, watching Thor carefully.  
"He doesn't comprehend what we are fighting for." He said, looking back at Vara.  
"He never will. He's an Asgardian." He said to her finally, hoping to have won her over once again.

"As are you Loki. If he understands, we can avoid a lot of death." She reasoned with her.

He blinked. His control over her was slipping. Maybe she was tried and needed to rest; she had been fighting all night. Her judgement was slipping. He needed to remind her of what they had.  
She could see that he was feeling uneasy so she had to try and reassure him that everything was going to turn out well and as planned.

"Everything will be okay. By the time the sun rises, Midgard will be ours." She whispered to him, holding his gaze, convincing him that she was still on board.  
He looked at her and saw that she was still his, but he needed to let Thor know that. He looked over at the man he used to call his brother and then back at Vara before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him harshly, before locking lips with her in a passionate embrace, making a spectacle of himself, proving to Thor that she was his and to not try and take her.

He broke the kiss gently, taking a breath, getting lost in the embrace for a moment before remembering that they had an audience. She smiled and kissed him gently on the lips before he set her down on the ground.

"I'll give you some privacy." He said, stepping back from her and her warriors, and warping away.  
She smiled and walked up to Thor.

"Okay, let's negotiate." She said to him, not realising why Loki had left.

He was going to find the Tesseract, while everyone was distracted and focused on Vara and her army.


	21. Chapter 21

Vara glanced over at Thor with her army of ten behind her. This man had caused so much pain and trouble for her people. He inadvertently also cost her father the throne, forcing her into the position of queen before she was ready. She didn't feel it back in the street, but she was fuming at him for what he had done to her people, to her father and to Loki. Most of all to Loki, strangely enough.

She walked up to him, making it painfully clear to him with her drawn sword that she did not trust him far as she could throw him. Loki had warned her not to trust him, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

"You are but one last rock standing in the way of a great deluge." She said to him, trying to convince him that all their efforts would be futile.  
"If you surrender now, I will spare you and your friends back there." She said, gesturing with her sword tip back at the city.

She turned her head and looked at the city, its lights twinkling off in the distance. She hadn't used the sword's powers to take the lights out, she wanted it to appear as normal as possible, and take the king by surprise.

"I might even make this city my capital. It's quite beautiful." She smiled at the city.  
They didn't have things like this back in Muspel, it was intriguing to her.

"You're misguided if you believe you can take Loki into your trust." He began to try and convince her that Loki was up to no good again, and using her as his pawn.

"Loki is the only person I can trust!" she hissed at him, her red cuts appearing briefly before fading back to creaminess.  
"Why did you place sanctions on Muspelheim?" she asked him, turning her sword tip on him threateningly.

"I was merely trying to prevent a war with Asgard." He said, turning side on to offer her a threat of his own.  
"I knew that you and your father were smart enough not to start a war if you weren't at full power. So by enforcing the sanctions, I was saving many lives, on both sides." He explained to her.

She gasped softly, almost under her breath. He was right. That is exactly why they didn't make a move against Asgard sooner. It seemed that she was far more predictable than she would have wished to be.

"But these people, these Midgardians," he said, using the realm term for the inhabitants of Earth.  
"They are different, they will not spare your people, and fight on even ground. They will do everything and anything in their power to save this world." He tried to talk her down for a ledge that would cost her everything if she jumped.

"You should reconsider now and just abandon this revenge fuelled war, before things get grim." He tried once more to talk sense into her head.

She thought about it for a second, looking down at the ground. He might have been right, but why did none of the other kingdoms put up a fight, why was this the place where they made their last stand, where, if they lost, when they lost, it would be final and she would rule this realm. She shook her head slowly, before looking back up at him.

"It's too late now." she said, before leaning forward slightly, placing her hand on her chest.  
"I need to feed my people, by enforcing the sanctions even now when you and your beloved realm have so much to lose; you've doomed this realm to subjugation." She tried to explain to him. He got it surely, he ruled a kingdom as well, he had to understand that if they surrendered now, now that that they were so close to the finish line, that her people would starve and hate her on top of that.

"Now you sound just like Loki," he said to her, stepping up to her.  
She saw him stepping up to her and she backed away, afraid of his wrath, but not showing it.  
"So hungry for power and so drunk on little victories that you can't see the threat staring you in the face." He said, stopping in front of her and looking down at her.  
He was slightly taller than Loki and quite intimidating.

Meanwhile Loki had managed to trace the feint gamma radiation of the Tesseract. He was standing on a mountain top, surrounded by snow. It was freezing, but he didn't feel it of course. It was underground, just as before. No doubt that the facility this time would be much similar to the first one. He needed to get in and get out fast, before their newly upgraded defences kicked in and gave him a surprise. He had no idea what they had done to make it safer, but no doubt they had.

It was something he had worked into his calculations. He knelt down on one knee and looked closer. There were two guards at the door, but he guessed having seen the Avengers in New York, they would never make it to the Swiss Alps in time to stop him. His plan was working out perfectly. Soon the Chitauri would have their precious Tesseract, and he would be free from their harassment and threats. He was free to make a new life for himself.

He warped down to the entrance and used his magic to conceal himself in plain sight from the two guards. He also transformed his skin into that of his Frost Giant heritage to avoid heat sensors if they had any waiting for him. He strolled past the guards as they stood guard, not even hearing his muffled footsteps as he entered the base. He walked past men and woman doing their jobs, taking careful note of what they looked like. None looked like warriors. Warriors that could take him anyway. He saw one man with a security pass key pinned to his chest. He had level seven clearances. The highest he had seen. He would have to follow that man to find the Tesseract. Or better yet, he always needed more spies.

He followed the man into the bathroom. Loki looked around, seeing that they were alone. He would have to work quickly. As the man stepped up to the latrine basin and unzipped his pants, Loki lifted his staff and touched his back. The blue energy flowed from the stone in his staff and into the man, taking control of him. He zipped his pants back up and turned to look at Loki.

"How may I help you sir?" he asked Loki.  
Loki smiled and reached out for his security tag.

"Take me to the Tesseract." He commanded the man and he nodded, before heading towards the door.

Loki concealed himself again and followed the man. They passed through many security checks, scans, identity verification and heavily fortified metal doors before they got to the lab where the Tesseract was being worked on. Loki stopped at the upper level viewing window for spectators. He was looking down into a great metal hall with the Tesseract in the centre, just as before. Clearly he was right about them building weapons to fight a more advanced war.

"Get me into that room." Loki said, not taking his eyes off the Tesseract, firing energy bolts in her little metal briefcase.

The man nodded and walked off. Loki took a few moments before following him into a stairwell that led down into the lab. They stopped at a door and the man lifted his security tag to the scanner. This was it, the last door. Six months of working on Vara and planning, had all come down to this moment. He watched eagerly as he ran the card through the scanner, only to have a red light flash in the darkness.

"What?" he asked the man.  
"I'm sorry sir, but I don't have that kind of clearance." He said to Loki, not knowing he was angering the young god.  
Loki grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him back up the stair well. He took a few steps back up the stairs and held his staff up to the door.

"I'll be damned if I'm walking away now." he said, blasting at the door.  
The blue energy hit the door and blasted it open, beginning to melt it near the impact point. This wasn't one of the heavy duty doors. Having passed them, there was no need for it here. The metal peeled away from the energy, melting in the heat and leaving a huge gaping hole. He walked down the steps to it and stepped through the hole as the sirens began to fire and scream at his arrival.

He smiled. This was the chaos he knew. He loved. He strode up to the Tesseract unabated and stopped in front of it. It was nestled into a silver briefcase and hooked up to a circuit, to distribute the energy it was giving off. He lifted his hand to lid of the briefcase and flipped it down. He grabbed the handle and lifted it off the table it was placed on. He turned to see the guards beginning to file into the room, he smiled and lifted his staff, only to have them fire at him first. He was caught in a hail of bullets.

Luckily he was Asgardian and these weapons did nothing to him. But a stray bullet hit the briefcase and the lid, that hadn't been latched up, and it popped open and the Tesseract fell out of the circuit. Loki looked down and saw it beginning to burn a hole into the floor. He knelt quickly and grabbed it, forgetting that it would burn him if he touched it for too long. He lifted it out of the hole and it began to burn him, he dropped it back into the briefcase and closed it properly this time, latching the lid closed.

He looked at his hand and saw that it was burned. He stood back up, his staff in his right hand and the briefcase in his left. He smiled at the guards and concealed himself with his magic. To the guards, it seemed that he just vanished. He needed to them to think that he was going to stay on the planet with it, or they would send Thor to find him. He stayed and watched as they moved closer, looking for him.

After a few minuets, when everyone had seen what was going on, the room emptied and he warped back to where Vara and Thor were talking. He concealed the briefcase just as he did the ice casket back on Asgard when he went to relieve Heimdallr of his duties. He took a breath and stepped out from behind the statue, as if nothing had happened.

Vara heard a warp gate close up and looked back, seeing Loki walk out from behind the statue. She turned and looked back at Thor.

"I do see the threat. I just know how I can overcome it." she said, before turning and walking back to where Loki and her soldiers were.  
She turned and looked back at Thor once she had reached Loki's side.

"Tell the others that the fight is on, and to bring their best efforts, because we will." She said, reaching down and taking hold of Loki's hand. She noticed that he had slight burn marks on his hands. She looked down at it and frowned slightly.

"I'm fine." he said, sensing her concern.  
She looked to the others and they reached out, touching each other's shoulders. She looked to Thor. She smiled, imagining her defeating him in battle. This was going to be a glorious night. As Thor watched, they warped away in a blue cloud of space dust like glimmer.

Thor sighed. He knew the humans had harnessed the power of the Tesseract and duplicated it's energy signature. He also knew they had active weapons using this technology in the system. No doubt they would use it against Loki, Vara and her army.

He began to swing his hammer and took off back into the sky, heading back towards the others. They were talking amongst themselves. Making contingency plans probably. Thor landed close to them and walked up to the group.

"I didn't succeed in talking her down." He said to them, looking at the group.  
"Loki has got his nails so deep into her that she even reasons like him." he sighed, thinking of how he had lost his beloved brother to thinking like that.

"Did you hear that Fury?" Tony said into his PA system.

"Yeah." He said to the group.  
"Now that we have done all we can do to preserve diplomacy and failed, we can only prepare to defend the planet." Fury said, his voice becoming serious.

"Sir, will we be equipped with the phase three weapons?" Black Widow asked him.

"Yes. Stark we need you to come in and get a temporary upgrade with the Odium weapons." Fury said to him.

"On my way." Stark said, flipping down his face plate and blasting off.

"Odium, I don't understand this phrase." Thor said, looking to the others.

"It's the name of the metal we have managed to synthesise, using the Tesseract's energy as a base." Bruce explained to him.  
"It's highly radioactive, like the Tesseract itself, but we've managed to produce weapons that run off it." he explained further.

"Like the Hydra weapons? Not this again guys, I warned you against them last time." Steve said, stepping into the fray.

"Trust me Steve, when those Fire Giants come over the ridge; you'll be happy you have those weapons." Thor said to him.

"They can't be that bad." Steve said.

"Picture a place that is as inhospitable as the very heart of a volcano. Then imagine what it would take for something to survive, nay, thrive, there. That is what a Fire Giant is. And now picture an army of millions of those creatures. That is what awaits us in the morning." Thor explained to him.

"So, in other words, we have a tough fight ahead of us." Hawkeye said to him.

"If not for the, Odium, yes. We would probably be defeated without it." Thor turned and looked at him. Silence fell upon the group. But they had defeated the last invaders of the extra terrestrial kind, and they would defeat these ones too.  
"That sword that the woman Vara was carrying, that is the legendary sword Laevateinn. It has properties that are, as yet, unknown to even I." Thor said.  
"You all need to prepare and get some practice in with those weapons." Thor said to them.

"The hoverjet is this way." Black Widow said, walking off back into the alley they had come from.  
The group followed her towards the jet. They took off and headed towards Shield HQ.


	22. Chapter 22

Vara and Loki along with their soldiers went back to Australia. They discovered that the men had wandered slightly, exploring their new realm.

"I'm going to have to signal them." Vara said, lifting her hand skyward with her palm facing up. After sending up a few fireballs and having nothing happen, she sent the other men to go find them. This in itself took several hours, much longer than Vara wanted. She was growing bored and restless, despite the lack of sleep. Loki watched and wondered if this was not the time to pull out. He had the Tesseract, there was no need to go any further. All Vara was thinking about was breaking the agreement with Thor on the agreed time. She just wanted to warp right back to New York and take it while the others were still preparing and would be taken by surprise.

"Arg, where the hell are they?" she asked, pacing forward and back in front of Loki, who was sitting on a nearby rock. He had what he wanted now; he didn't even have to be there. But yet he was, and that in itself he found interesting. When the time came, would he be able to put the last action in effect? He hoped so, he wouldn't want Vara caught in the cross fire between Thor and the Chitauri, when they came for the Tesseract.

"Stop pacing, you're making yourself nervous." He said, leaning back onto his elbows, relaxed as ever.

"My army not being here is making me nervous." She said, stopping pacing and sitting down next to him.  
"One more, and then we can live in peace." She sighed happily, smiling at him.  
"Thank you for warning me against Thor." She said, leaning on his shoulder.

"What did he say?" he asked her, looking down at her face.

"Exactly what you said he would, try to convince me that you were evil and weren't to be trusted. That you felt nothing for me, essentially." She said, seeing a few of her men trickle back to the ranks.

Loki was impressed. It had been a year since he dropped off the edge of the Biforst back in Asgard, and still, his brother knew him well enough to see through the schemes.

"When I said that I would never feel anything for you, all those months ago, I was wrong." He began to tell the truth, but then remembered his one last duty.  
Telling her this, would break her even more than he expected when the time came for him to do what he had to.  
"You bring me contentment." He said, looking out over the dark landscape, the red Giants walking back in droves now.

"Just contentment?" she asked him.

"Bordering on happiness." He smiled down at her.  
He wasn't lying. Although when he first arrived in Muspelheim, he thought it was hell, but it was not nearly as inhospitable as he first thought. He had grown used to it and even grew fond of the realm, and it's queen.  
"For the longest time, I thought I was cursed. First by being the second born, living in Thor's shadow, and then when I found out I was a Frost Giant. It was hell." He said, looking down at her.  
"For the first time, in a long time, I am at peace." He whispered to her, kissing her gently on the forehead.  
He was finding it harder and harder to lie to her. It was like she could burn through the ice of what he thought he was, and make him see what he really was, caring, gentle, loving, protective and powerful. But unfortunately, his mischief would always override that.

"I'm glad. You needed peace when you first came to me." she said, seeing the last of her men arriving.  
"You were broken when you came to me. Broken and hurting. I'm glad I fixed you." She said, looking up at him and planting a gently kiss on his lips, lingering slightly, taking in the divine taste of the god.  
She broke the kiss, eager to continue, but they didn't have time.

"We better get going." She whispered to him.  
He nodded, licking his lips and tasting her sweet warmth.

"Yes, we should." He said.  
She sighed and stood up followed shortly by him. He knew that was the last kiss they would share. It was a fitting end to the relationship.

Vara instructed all her men to touch shoulders again, as they were going to warp back to New York now and start the final battle. They began cheering, moving closer to each other, touching shoulders. Loki reached down and took her hand. He looked at her as she reached out and put her hand on the shoulder of soldier in front of her.

It was like he was already saying goodbye. He felt a pain in his chest. Was it his heart breaking? He knew what he needed to do. But by the looks of things, it would hurt him as much as it would hurt her. He never intended to fall for her, but it appeared that he had. Once everyone was pumped up and ready to go again, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Okay. Let the finally battle for Midgard begin." She said to him.  
He said nothing but warped everyone back to New York City.

When they got there, the city was quiet, just as before. Vara let go of Loki's hand and turned to her men. He felt the warmth of her touch fade into his normal coldness. That would be their last touch, and now, even her warmth was gone.

"For their insolence and resistance to me and my rule, we will raze this city to the ground." She instructed her men.  
They cheered and began running off in different directions. It was like a holiday to them. They got to destroy the city without fighting. It was wonderful. Vara and Loki stood watching as her men clambered up buildings and began ripping them apart, sending debris, glass and metal crashing to the ground like crystal raindrops.

"Vara…" Loki said, turning to her.  
"I need to get you out of here. Please come with me." he said to her, begging her.  
She turned to him.

"But the fun has just started. I was looking forward to demolishing that awful green lady." He said to him.  
"As soon as the Avengers get here, this is going to get very ugly, very quickly. Please promise you'll come with me, even if it means leaving everyone behind." He begged her, truly for the first time since she had known him.

"Loki… what are you…" she began to say but she was cut off with the sound of jets hovering over them.  
She looked up and saw the black jet with their canons and guns aimed at her men. It appeared that they would sacrifice the city to stop Vara and her army.

"NO!" Vara shouted and ran toward the building, her eyes glued on her men, as the first rounds explode from the canon barrel. She watched in horror as the bullet traling in blue energy struck her men and and building in a cicular fashion. She was frozen as she watched her men falling to the ground in droves, dead before they even hit the ground.

Shje watched then as her men began to fight back, but to no avail. The jets turned and began shooting at the other men on the nearby buildings, killing them in tow. Vara was so fixated on the metal dragons shooting blue sparks at her men and killing them that she missed the Shield agents and the others troops drop down into the streets, where Vara and Loki were standing alone. She heard footsteps behind her and glanced out her left eye to see that she was staring down the barrel of a gun with a glowing blue chamber behind the trigger at the hands of a masked troop. At his side, was the read headed woman.

"Surrender now or we will shoot." The woman with red hair said to Vara, holding up a puny little weapon to her. Vara composed herself, realising the war was now officially on, and she laughed as she drew her sword.

"You think you can defeat me?" Vara laughed, stepping forward.

"I know I can." Black Widow said, putting her guns away.  
"And I know I don't need them to stop you." She added, smiling, walking up to Vara.

"Very well. Hand to hand combat has always been my favourite method of killing." Vara said, putting her sword down on the ground.

Before Loki even knew what was happening, she and Vara were engaged in combat, without even batting an eyelid further. He had seen the Black Widows skills in action, but Vara was keeping up with her, matching her blows and holding her ground. They were too evenly matched to determine a clear winner.

Loki saw movement to his left and looked over to see director Fury walking up to him. He was holding a gun in his hand, with a glowing blue element inside the machine.

"Ah, the director of operations." Loki said to him, walking up to him malevolently.  
"Where is our audience?" Loki asked, throwing his arms open.

"Gone." He replied, stopping before getting to close to Loki.  
"The last time you pulled something like this, too many innocents died." He said, looking at Vara and Black Widow fighting.  
"I wasn't prepared to go through that again." he added, not looking away.

As they both Loki and Vara of them were kept busy and distracted, Shield agents with the Odium weapons began to surround them, killing any living Giants that got in the way.

"Who is she?" Fury asked, looking at Loki. He had never seen anyone else keep toe to toe with Natasha. This was a first for him, to see someone keeping up with his best assassin and spy.

"She is none of your concern. You fight is with me, Patches." Loki said to him, trying to keep him occupied and distracted away from Vara.  
Fury laughed.

"You honestly think that was going to hurt me." Fury laughed, touching his chest, feigning hurt feelings.  
"I've heard it all before alien boy." He smiled at Loki.

"Stark, no doubt." Loki smiled at him.

"Once, but now he knows better. As you will shortly." He said, holding up the gun to Loki.  
"Surrender, or lose her." he said, moving the gun over to Vara, and setting her in his sights as she fought with the Black Widow. He had figured out by now that Loki was protecting her.

Loki laughed and director fury looked over at him, surprise that he wasn't giving in.  
"You think she means anything to me. Killing her will achieve nothing. Only anger her men further." Loki laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes. He would never know the real reason why he shed that tear.

"Don't make me shoot a woman, Loki." Fury warned him.

"Do it, it will gain you nothing." Loki challenged him again.

Fury frowned and set Vara in his sights again before squeezed on the trigger and released a bolt of glowing blue energy, heading towards Vara's back.  
One of her men saw the bolt heading towards her from the building where he we perched and dropped down in front of the bolt to protect her. Vara heard him thump down and turned just in time to see him being vaporized by the blue energy.  
She turned her back on Black Widow and the fight stopped. Natasha never wanted to win a fight while her opponent was distracted.

She followed the trajectory of the bolt and saw that a tall black man in a black leather trench coat and a patch over one eye had fired the shot.  
"What have you done to him!" Vara shouted at Fury, looking at the black scorch marks on the ground, where on of her men once stood.

"He's dead." Fury said to her.  
She growled at him, causing the ground to shake. Loki thought that lava would come bursting through the tar any minute but it was just shaking. She looked around her slowly. This was not happening, they were not faltering at the last hurdle. But they were. Everything was happening so slowly. Her men were being slaughtered by the blue bolts and they were surrounded. The scales were beginning to tip in the Midgardians favour.

"Surrender." Fury gave her one last ultimatum.  
Vara turned and looked at him. She saw that he would kill her entire army if he had to. This was exactly what she didn't want.  
She hesitated, looking to Loki, who had his eyes aimed at the skies, and peeled for Thor. He had to be close by, judging by the gathering storm clouds. He was right, as a loud clamp of thunder announced the arrival of the thunder god. The sky lit up with white lightning and he dropped down from those storm clouds, lading in the street, cracking the tar at his feet. Thor stood up from his kneeling position and looked around, surveying the situation. He then looked to Loki, who was clearly terrified. He then turned his attention on Vara. She was the weak link to crack. He turned and began walked up to Vara.

"Do it. They mean business." Thor commanded her.

"SO DO I!" she shouted at him, bending down and grabbing her sword.  
She swung out at Thor, hoping to land at least one blow. Just one would do.  
Thor simply swung his hammer at the sword blade, though indestructible, the hands that held it were not immune from vibrations or pain. It sent the sword flying out of her hand, and into the building, embedding the blade deep into the concrete. She looked back at it and realized that without her sword, she didn't stand a chance against Thor. She looked back at him, scared for the first time since sunset. This was where she was going to die, by the hand of the brother of man she loved.

"I can see you're scared." Thor said to her.  
"I can also see Loki has you under his spell and that you didn't know what you were walking into." He said, stepping up to her, only having her back away from him, towards Loki.

"If you surrender, I will stop the attack." Fury said to her, having walked away from Loki and now rounding her left side, walking to Thor's side. She looked over at him, still walking back, before reaching out with her hand towards Loki, but he didn't take her hand, or even reach out for it. He watched as she quivered and shook as she stepped towards him backwards. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't save her. She stopped next to him but kept her eyes firmly planted on Fury and Thor. Loki looked at her, and wondered if he should just reach out and take her hand. But then she spoke first.

"Okay, I surrender. Just stop killing my people." She said to him, in a childlike voice. One Loki had never heard before. He looked at her and frowned. How could she? She had crumbled under the blow of Thor's reputation.

"Stand down." Fury gave the order and the killing stopped. Vara looked to her men and they dropped down to the street, surrounding her, protecting her.

"We surrender." She instructed her men, hanging her head in shame.  
She looked to Loki, who looked shocked and defeated as well. This was all his idea.

A swarm of Shield agents began moving towards them and placing Odium cuffs on them, making them unbreakable. Thor walked up to Loki as Vara watched the two of them as Black Widow cuffed her hands behind her.  
"Once again, brother, you have failed in your vengeance seeking task." Thor said to Loki.  
"And this time, you brought her into your mess and left a realm without a leader. Shameful." Thor added, looking over at Vara, struggling against the cuffs.  
"Don't bother, you won't get out of them." The Black Widow said to her.  
She looked over her shoulder at the woman and sighed. She was right. She hung her head in shame.

"I will never stop trying to make your life hell." Loki hissed at Thor finally, his anger showing. Vara looked up at him, still defiant in the face of defeat. She felt as though she was seeing the real Loki for the first time. The Loki he transformed into around Thor. The broken, hurting and vengeful Loki.

"No matter how many people I must sacrifice, I will do it willingly, just to see you bleed." Loki hissed at him again, almost looking as if he was ready to strike Thor.  
She watched Loki sadly. He seemed too different from the Loki she had just seen and loved. Was this him, was this the mask that had fallen off and revealing his true nature. His Giant nature.

"Loki… this can't be true." She whispered to him, wanting to move towards him, but she was being held back by Black Widow. He looked to her and his eyes were different and this made her gasp loudly, taking a step back. They were dead, cold and indifferent. It was as if she had never known him, and he had never known her. The times they had spent together, all the soul searching they had done together, the secrets they had shared and kept with each other. All of it was gone. Her Loki was gone.

"Is this what this whole thing was about, revenge on your brother?" she asked him softly, hurting.  
The agents saw it and began to feel bad for her. She was just used as his pawn. And now she was realising it. She saw his eyes flash back to the eyes she knew, before turning cold again. He turned away from her, not talking. He said nothing, which told her everything.

"You…" she said, looking down at the ground.  
"Never really wanted to help us, or me." she began to sum up.  
"All you wanted was revenge. To hurt your brother" She said softly, a hush falling over the agents and Giants alike.  
As hurt as she was, her anger soon began to replace that and she pulled away from Black Widow, lunging at Loki before being stopped and held back by Thor.  
"YOU USED ME FOR OWN PERSONAL VENDETTA!" she shouted at him, trying to get at him from behind Thor.  
"I sacrificed MY entire army. MY and their freedom for YOU. and YOU won't even look ME in the eye!" she shouted at him, struggling against her cuffs. If she could only get to him. She would make him hurt more than Thor ever could. Fire and ice didn't mix.

Finally, he turned to her, with a look of contentment on his face. He had done his job. She hated him, which meant she wouldn't miss him and long for him.  
He smiled and shrugged at her innocently, as blue swirls began to from around him. Her eyes shot open. She knew what he was doing. She knew that look.

"No, Loki, please, don't leave me here…" she whispered to him as she swirls grew stronger and more vibrant.

"Don't leave me…" she begged him, a tear of lava running down her face. Her anger had turned back to hurt in an instant. She now saw his whole plan.  
As she watched, as they all watched, he disappeared into the warp hole, fading from reality and her sight. She watched as the blue swirls faded and were replaced by thin air. She watched for a few more seconds, holding her breath, hoping, praying. But nothing happened.

He was gone.

She stared into the darkness, her mind numb. Everything was silent. She was dumbfounded, traumatized; she didn't believe what she was seeing. It had to sink in a little.

"Loki…" she said softly, hoping he would return for her.  
Nothing.  
"LOKI!" she screamed for him, lurching forward to scream as loud as she could, clenching her eyes closed and forcing the tears out.  
She fell to the ground on her knees, screaming and crying, as the agents began to take her men away. Thor stood over her, watching her grieve for Loki. Just as he once had.  
He sighed.

"I'm sorry. But I did warn you." He whispered to her, kneeling down and placing his hand on her shoulder.  
She turned her head away from him and began to cry quietly to herself. She wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock back and forth, slipping into another dimension where her mind could be safe.

"This was all just a sick game to him." she whispered to herself.  
Thor nodded.

"Yes. I'm afraid so." He replied as an agent came up to them to take her away. Thor shook his head, meaning to take her himself.  
"I'm afraid everything he told you in confidence, was nothing but an elaborate lie. He's a talented liar." He said to her as the agent turned away.  
"We need to take you away now." he said, pulling her up gently by her shoulder.  
He wasn't sure if she could walk. If he needed to, he would carry her. But he turned her towards the hover jets and she walked off solemnly, sobbing quietly, as she seemed to accept the fate of her and her people, stuck on this rock with no way to leave. They were stranded and left for dead. She climbed up into the hoverjet and looked at her people, who were sitting on the sides of the plane. They looked angrily at her. They had all warned her against Loki, but she acted on her own decisions and now they were all going to pay for her stupidity.

Ten jets filled later, they landed at the Shield HQ and put everyone in cells. They put Vara in her own cell, afraid that the others might kill her. She was locked up alone in a brightly lit chamber surrounded by a clear rock in the centre of the dungeons. She watched as they locked her people up. And what was worst, they had managed to pull her sword from the concrete, and were taking it off to be analyzed. She sat down on the ground and stared down blankly. She had lost everything. She was truly alone now.


	23. Chapter 23

After contacting the taken over countries, and assuring them that the alien threat had been taken care of, Shield declared that the Earth was safe again and everything went back to normal. The humans slowly started rebuilding what the Giants had destroyed. With Vara and her army locked up and awaiting prosecution, everything was under control.

After her defeat, Vara sat on the ground of her cell for hours upon hours, looking down at the ground, barely moving. Every now and then they sent someone round to check that she was still alive. She was breathing and blinking, but she was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice how long she had been sitting there. There was no way to gauge time in this hole. No sunlight, no volcano, no stars. The only thing she had to tell her how many hours would have passed was her level of tiredness, but now, she was always tired. 24 hours after her defeat with no sleep, she stood up suddenly, turned and looked right into the monitoring cameras overlooking the prison.

"I want to talk to your Director." She said, remembering Loki having called him that.  
The team, who were all watching from a nearby office, all looked to him. They were all curios to see what move she made next. It looked like the time had arrived for her to just that. Fury shrugged and walked off to go see what she wanted. After a few minutes the dungeons doors opened and Fury walked in.

"I heard that you wanted to talk to me." he said, walking with his hands clasped behind his back, with an air of victory about him.

"I want to negotiate the release of my people with you." She said, walking up to the glass and placing her hand on it, palm down.  
He looked at her and frowned briefly before breaking out in a laugh.

"What makes you think I'll release them?" He said, walking up to a chair and pulling it closer before sitting down.  
"But I'm listening anyway." He smiled and leaned back against the chair back.

"I know that I am not in a position to make threats or ask for favours, but you must believe me when I tell you that my people were only following orders." She said, looking at him sitting there like he was the Allfather.  
"My orders." She added.

"And Loki, what was his role in all of this?" Fury asked her.

"Let my people go, and I will tell you." She countered.  
He tilted his head to the side and frowned. He was beginning to get intrigued.  
"I beg of you, release them," she said, before swallowing hard.  
She knew that after this she could never return to Muspelheim with her head held high. She would be the laughing stock of the entire realm, if not all the realms. The best she could hope for was the dungeons of Asgard. If she was lucky.

"What else do you have to offer?" Fury asked her.

"And," she said, looking at him, as if saying that he didn't let her finish.  
"In exchange, I will stay behind and submit myself to being your prisoner of war." She countered with an offer that was too good to pass up.

"Who are you anyway?" he asked her, folding his arms over his chest.

"I am the queen of Muspelheim, and that if I stay behind; my people will never reconsider attacking Earth again." she said to him, making the deal even sweeter.

"How so?" he asked, sitting forward, listening intently.

"They wouldn't not risk killing me in an effort to release me." she said, looking to her war generals.  
They could all hear her. They knew that she was offering herself up in their place. They thought it was incredibly brave of her.

"That sounds very tempting, but, seeing as Loki has run off, I have no way to get them back to your world." He said, frowning at her, stating the obvious.  
The door slid open in the background and they turned to look who it was.

"I have a way of delivering them to Muspelheim." Thor said to them.

"How?" Fury and Vara asked in unison.

"The Tesseract." He said to them.

"We have the Tesseract. Locked away in a place no one will ever find it." Fury said to him.

"I will not divulge the method in which I obtained the Tesseract. But it is in my possession. You have your weapons now, and no longer have any need for it. Thus, it's coming home with me." Thor explained to Fury.  
Fury nodded. It was true. They had developed their technology to duplicate the Odium, and they didn't need it any more. And the Asgardians would be able to defend it properly.

"Would you be allowed to do that son of Odin?" Vara asked Thor.  
He nodded to her over Fury's shoulder.  
She looked to Fury who had turned to look at her.

"Do we have a deal?" she asked him once more.

"After her trail on Earth, she must come to Asgard and stand trial there as well." Thor said to him.  
"The crime she has committed has spanned two realms and thus, is subject to Asgardian justice." He said to Fury as well as Vara.  
She nodded sadly. She knew the rules for declaring war on an innocent realm. She would spend the rest of her life behind bars, in one realm and then the next.

"I accept." Fury said suddenly, before getting up and walking off.  
"But, you will answer any question we have for you and when we are done, Thor can have you." Fury said to her.  
Her eyes shifted from Fury to Thor. Only he knew the tortures they would inflict on her in Asgard. This realm would be a holiday compared to that. It scared her senseless. A few hours ago, she was the queen of a powerful race and now, she was nothing more than a prisoner. One that would probably be tortured to death in Asgard.  
She nodded.

"I agree to your terms." She said sadly.  
Fury nodded and walked off, leaving the two of them alone.  
"Thank you." She said, sinking back down to the floor beside the glass. Thor walked up to the glass and leaned against it, his arm above his head

"You've given up haven't you?" he asked her.

"What have I to fight for?" she asked, looking up at him.  
"My army defeated, my people dying regardless, my lover gone." She said, dropping her gaze again.  
"My heart no longer beats. I am dead to this world." She said sadly.  
Thor nodded. He understood her pain, having lost Jane due to Loki.

"I'll come for your people tomorrow." He said, turning and walking away from her.  
"LOOK AT WHAT YOUR QUEEN HAS SACRIFICED FOR YOU!" he shouted suddenly, brining her out of her coma and catching the attention of all her men. She looked up at him as he addressed her people.  
"Freedom, is the highest chip to be bartered with." He said, before leaving the room.  
There were a few moments of silence, before her war generals spoke up.

"You should not have done that my queen." He said from his cell.

"What choice did I have?" she asked, looking towards him.  
"I will not have them experiment on you." She said, looking to the other cells.

"But, the lineage…" he began.

"There will be a new linage now." she said.  
"I may not have an heir, but I have made plans." She explained.  
"Get some sleep, tomorrow you all go home." She said, standing up and walking up to the bed in the cell.

"Very well my queen." He said, fading into the darkness, as did the rest of her troops.

She curled up on the bed and stared out blankly into the darkness.  
She didn't sleep that night, scared awake by the horrors that would be inflicted on her during her last years.

The next morning, they came for her warriors. After being cuffed. They were ushered off to the hover jets. As the last few were taken, Thor came for her. She heard the doors of her cell unlock and she sat up in her bed. Thor came walking into the room and looked down at her as she sat on the edge of her bed.  
"It's time to say goodbye." He said to her. She nodded and stood up. He turned and walked out of the cell, followed by her.  
"This will be your last time to address your people." Thor said to her as they ushered her in a waiting hoverjet. As if she needed him to tell her that. They took her as well, giving her one last time to address her people.

Once they were all in, they took them to the New Mexico Bifrost site. It was large and secluded enough that they didn't have to worry about people seeing them. When everyone was there, Vara exited the jet to come face to face with her people. She drew a deep breath and began to explain to them what was going on, in case they had missed it the night previous.

"My brave warriors." She addressed them, cuffed and shackled flanked by Thor and the Ironman.  
"You are all going home today." She said, looking up at them and smiling.  
"With the help of Thor Odinson. You are free and will not be prosecuted for my crimes." She explained to them, before looking at Thor.  
He nodded to her. She nodded once.  
"You are not to come and save me." she said, tears of lava running down her cheeks.  
"I have volunteered as the only prisoner of war and in exchange, you are free to go home." She told them.  
There was an unearthly silence as they waited for her to say something else. Her war general looked around, shocked by the silence of her men.

"LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!" he shouted out, his cuffed hands held high. Soon the mumble began to spread and then the others began to shout too, causing the ground to rumble under their feet. She chuckled and laughed, looking down at the ground, her tears falling to the ground and solidifying into Hematite.  
"Long live the queen." She said, acknowledging their praise.  
As soon as they calmed, she watched as Thor transported them back to Muspelheim, disappearing into the Tesseract vortex, leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

"Come on." The Ironman took her by the elbow and led her back to the hoverjet.  
"You'll like it here, we're not all monsters." He tried to comfort her.

"You are to me." she said sitting down on the seat.  
"Tell me, what tortures does Fury have planned for me?" she asked him, looking up from her seat.

"We don't torture anyone, well not anymore." Tony said, sitting down next to her.  
"Now if you had attacked 1000 years ago." He said, whistling shortly afterwards.

"I don't believe you." She said to him, referring to the fact that they didn't torture anyone.

"No really. We have this thing called human rights now." he tried to explain to her.  
She looked at him and laughed.

"But I'm not human, am I?" she reminded him.  
He frowned and remembered that she was in fact an alien.

"Yeah, the skin colour keeps throwing me off." He said, scratching his eye brow.  
"How is it that you are, uh, Caucasian…" she frowned and he gestured to her skin colour by softly poking her upper arm closest to him.

"Oh you mean, is my skin white and the others red?" she asked him.

"Uh, yeah." He said, sitting back.

"My mother was Asgardian." She said to him, explaining that she was only half Fire Giant.

"Like Thor?" he asked her.  
She nodded.

"She died 200 years ago." She said, remembering her mother.  
How ashamed she would have been if she had been alive.

"200, but how old are you?" he asked her.

"550 years old. In Midgardian terms." She said to him.  
He whistled again.

"Five hundred and… how is it you look so young?" he asked her.

"We age much slower and thus reach an older age." She explained.  
"Can we go back now, I'm a little tired." She asked him, looking away from him and down at her cuffs.

"Yeah." He said, getting up and walking out the back of the plane.  
The hatch closed up and they took off, heading back to the HQ.

She was lead back to her cell, where she had a clear view of the now lit up lab. They began to analyze Laevateinn. This brought her a little bit of joy throughout the day and she smiled every time they went to touch it.

She would watch from her cell for the next few days as scientist after scientist came into the lab to try and figure out why it not letting them touch it, giving them a jolt every time they reached for it. She laughed loudly every time at the fools. It was like a show.

A team of two men came in. The one man she recognised as Tony stark, the iron man. And the other was unknown to her, in his human form anyway. Once again when they went to touch it, it shocked them. Vara smiled, sitting in her chair, watching them fail just as all the others did. Tony and Bruce looked at her smiling to herself. She waved to them and continued to smile. After they saw her laughing loudly out loud at them, they figured she knew why they couldn't come near it.

"She knows why it's doing this." Tony said to Bruce.

"Of course she does, it's her weapon." Bruce said, looking at the smiling woman.

"We need to get her to tell us how this thing works." Tony said, before turning and walking out.  
Bruce watched him from the lab as he walked down the adjacent hall and to the atrium doors that held her cell. He then watched as Tony walked up to the cell.

"Hey Vara, how's it going?" Tony asked her.  
They had already gone through the niceties of asking her what she was and what her name was. They knew her complete family history at this stage. But she only answered the questions they asked, never giving them more than what was needed. Although she had taken a shine to Tony and his humour. She also supposed he held out a hope that he could seduce her, but her heart wasn't her to give anymore. She had also become accustomed to the words and things of this realm. She was a quick learner.

"Cold, you said you would upgrade the heating system days ago." She said, standing up, grabbing her chair and walking over to where Tony was standing, before setting it down and sitting down again.  
"I used to bathe in lava; this planet is almost too cold for me live on." She said, to him, sitting back and folding her arms over her chest.

"I'm working on it." he said, pulling up a chair.

"Ah, more questions." She smiled to him, before looking over to her right, where Bruce and Laevateinn were.  
"Who is he, I've never seen him before?" she asked Tony, looking at Bruce.  
"Ah, actually you have, the big green guy at the fight, yeah, that's his, uh, alter ego." He explained to her. She nodded in understanding.

"Impressive." She said, looking back at Tony.  
"If you're here to ask about the sword, I'm afraid that is one thing I will not answer." She said to him, not beating around the bush.

"You agreed to answer any question we asked you, or do we need to break out the torture again?" Tony asked her, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.  
Her mind slipped to the healing wound on her left arm. They wanted to test just how fire resistant she was, and that meant testing her skin at increasingly high temperatures until she burned.  
She felt her anger boiling up again and pulled lower jaw threateningly to the side.

"I can't tell you everything because I don't know everything. I'm the first person to wield it, after it was made by my mother." She explained it to him.

"So your mother made it." he repeated.

"Yes." she confirmed.

"Why does it shock anyone who comes near it?" he asked her.

"I don't know." She said to him.

"Why did we need to put EMP protectors on the systems?" he asked her.

"I don't know." She repeated.

"What do you know?" he asked her, sitting back in the chair.

"Only a woman can wield it." she told him.

"A woman?" he asked.  
She nodded.

"Any woman?" he asked, thinking Black Widow might be able to help them in the studies.

"No. Only a woman that accepts the truth and all of the truth, can wield it." she explained to him.

"So you do know quite a bit about it." he challenged her.

"Only what I have learned through my own experiences." She explained to him.  
He nodded.

"Will you help us figure it out, seeing as you can wield it?" he asked her, standing up.

"No." she said.

"In that case, let me see what torture Fury has lined up for you." He said, walking off, hoping his bluff would work.

"I won't be able to wield it anymore." She quickly said to him, standing up and calling to him desperately, trying to avoid a trip to the medical infirmary, the fear evident in her voice. He stopped and looked back at her over his shoulder. It was clear that the torture had worked. She was scared to death of it.

"Why?" he asked her.  
She held his gaze and then dropped them to the ground, having being reminded of why her heart was broken.

"I don't know the truth anymore." She whispered to him.  
He did the sums quickly in his head and realised the only thing that was different now, was Loki's absence. He turned and walked back up to her.

"He really tore you up, didn't he?" he whispered to her.  
She nodded.

"I gave him everything." She whispered.  
She then put her mask back on and turned her back to Tony.  
"You're going to have to find someone else to help you." She said, going into the bed room.

Tony nodded and walked off, heading back to the lab. He and Bruce continued to try and work on the weapon, but still, it held onto her secrets, refusing to give them up.


	24. Chapter 24

Later that day, she heard the cell door open from her room. She expected to see Tony and his blue eyes come around the corner, but instead it was the scientists she had come to fear. The one that did the experiments. She stood up, only to have a pair of odium cuffs slapped on her as usual. It meant she was leaving the cell, she had gathered by now.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, expecting them to say to the lab where Tony was working, but he said nothing.

He led her out flanked by tow armed guards, to the infirmary. Her heart skipped and spluttered in her chest, not knowing what was coming, but knowing at the same time. She began to mentally prepare herself for the pain they were about to inflict on her. They led her to an infirmary room, and then to the stretcher in that room and sat her down, and then forced her to lie down. As she watched, they strapped her down, pulling her right arm out onto an adjacent support.

The doctor then put up a set in x-rays on the light box, before turning it on. She remembered having them done several days ago. She looked at them. It was interesting to see what she looked like on the inside. It was fascinating. She couldn't see that there was a problem, having never seen an x-ray before.  
The doctor looked at them, curiously, and lengthily, before pointing to a small white spot in her lower abdomen.

"Mmm, interesting." He said.

"What, what's interesting?" she asked him, looking over to the x-ray, seeing the little bright white spot on the sheet.  
"What is that?" she asked him, frowning at it.

"Never you mind." He said, before he walked back to his table and rolled out a leather wrap with his sharp, metal instruments in it.

She gasped when she saw all the sharp blades and shiny tongs and things that had been unsheathed from the leather wrap. They were going to use them on her. She looked at the sharp instruments and realised that this was going to hurt. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Why don't you just kill me and get it over with." She said to them.  
The scientist looked down at her and smiled.

"One day." he said, sitting down at her right arm, his scalpel in his hand.  
She looked at him, shocked. She was supposed to go to Asgard when her time here was done. She had been sentenced to five years under heavy guard and under the terms of a prisoner of war. But it was just like the humans, to go back on their word. She had come to expect it from them. She was slowly learning that they couldn't be trusted at all. The scientist put the blade to her skin on her arm and began to drag it along her lower arm. She cringed in pain, balling her hands up into fists and turned her head away from him, hiding her tears.

"Can I at least have something for the pain?" she asked him through the hidden tears.

"Anaesthetic effects will be tested next week." He said to her, smiling secretly.  
"This week, it's muscle groups." He said, putting down the blood soaked scalpel.

He reached down to his table and picked a pair of rib spreaders. He placed it on either side of her arm and tightened it, before beginning to pry her muscles apart. She cringed at first, feeling nothing but pressure. But pretty soon, she began to moan softly, and close to the end, when her arm looked like it had been dissected fully and the muscles began to strain against the spreader, she began to scream. The sound made the scientist smile, but the sound wasn't confined to the infirmary.

Some of the Avengers team members were there at HQ, seated at a debriefing table, talking about the weapons they had used in the war against the Fire Giants, heard her screaming. The sound made their hearts stop and they all looked to where it was coming from.

"What was that?" Natasha asked them, but it was aimed more at Fury.

"Vara." Fury said to her.

"What are they doing to her? It's sounds like she's being murdered." Steve asked him.

"Science." He said simply.

"I'm pretty sure science doesn't sound like that." Steve said, standing up from his seat.

"You'd be surprised." Bruce said to him.  
Steve looked to him, frowned, and then back at Fury.

"They're torturing her, aren't they?" Steve asked him.

"We need to find out how these creatures function, if ever they attack us again." Fury began to justify the scientist's work.

"What are they doing to her?" Natasha asked, standing up.

"They are studying major muscle groups today." Fury explained to them.

"Please tell me you gave her some juice." Tony asked Fury.

"It could kill her. We couldn't risk it." Fury explained.  
Steve rolled his eyes, left the table and ran out of the room, following the screaming. He knew they were carving her up alive like a piece of meat. The others stood up quickly and followed shortly after him, after Natasha gave Fury a very dirty look.

They followed a running Steve and the high pitched screams into the infirmary and got there in time to see Steve punching the scientist in the face, sending him flying back into the wall. He then turned to see what he had been doing to her. They all stopped and stared. They could see all the muscles in her lower arm as well as a white bone sticking out through the red flesh. Steve went at the restrains, pulling them apart as Natasha went after the spreader and unwound it, releasing it from her arm. Vara had seemed to have slipped into a state of despondence and had passed out, humanlike tears running down her face.

"It's her body shutting down to save her from the pain." Natasha said to them going to the scientist's instruments.  
She got a thread and needle and threaded it. She had to stitch her up or it would become infected or she would bleed out.  
"Steve, get me some water." she said, sitting down at her wounded arm.  
"Tony, see if you can find some gauze and bandages. And for God sakes, some morphine." She asked him.

Tony nodded and began looking around the room. Steve brought her a pan with water and she began washing the blood off so she could see what she was doing. She then began to stitch her arm up, slowly, painfully, being careful not to hurt her more than she already was. Tony put the things she had asked for beside her on the instrument table. They both stood back and watched her working on Vara.

"I promised her if she co-operated that she wouldn't be tortured." Tony said softly to them.

"Fury's playing by another set of rules." Steve said, looking at him, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We need to let Thor know what's going on. She's under his protection." Natasha said over her shoulder to them, pulling through another stitch.  
She saw Vara's hand twitch and she knew she was coming to.  
"Steve, I need you to hold her down if she wakes up and fights against me." Natasha said, not making another move to do the next stitch till he was in place.  
Steve moved to Vara's other side and nodded, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Tony, load some morphine into that syringe and inject it right here." she said to him, pointing at a still exposed artery in her arm.  
Tony did just as she asked and injected the pain medication into the artery. Vara's eyes opened and she slowly rolled her head around to see them working on her.

"Hey guys…" she said, the medication beginning to work.  
She had grown a little close to Steve and Natasha. They had voiced nothing but concern for her wellbeing over the past few days.

"You need to stay still; I'm stitching you up, okay." Natasha said, working on the arm. Vara nodded.  
She rolled her eyes over to Steve leaning against her bed.

"Did I ever tell you you're kinda cute…" she said to him, smiling stupidly.  
Steve looked at her and blushed, looking down at the ground smiling.

"Well of everyone here, he's closer to your age." Tony joked with her.

"Ah Tony, you're here too. You're so funny…" Vara laughed softly.  
"And kinda annoying…" she said, lifting her head slightly off the bed and looking at Natasha for reassurances.  
"Isn't he annoying?" Vara asked her.

"A little." Natasha smiled and glanced over at Tony, pulling through another stitch.

"But he's smart, too." Vara added, and then she looked at Tony.  
"You're smart Tony." She added.

"Thank you." He said, pulling up a chair and sitting behind Natasha.

"You know, when I came here, I thought they were going to kill me." she said, looking at her arm briefly.  
"Now I see I was right. You humans hate me." she said, looking at each one in turn.

"We don't hate you. But you do need to pay for the people you killed." Natasha said to her, pulling through another stitch.

"Loki…" she said, saying his name for the first time since she had been imprisoned.  
"He made me do it. He told me that it was a sacrifice that had to be made." She rambled on.  
"I gave him my heart, and he left me on this rock to rot." She said, staring up at the ceiling again.

"You're safe now. They won't hurt you again. I promise." Steve said to her.

"Thanks Steve." She sighed.  
"I'm going to sleep now. Night." She said, closing her eyes and passing out again.

"Poor girl." Steve said to the others.

"We need to stop this from happening again." Natasha said, finishing off.  
She then washed her hands and washed off the wound.  
"They won't stop till she's dead." She said, beginning to dress the wound.

"She may not be human, but that doesn't mean they can be inhumane to her." Steve said to them.  
Tony nodded.

"I'm going to be working on the sword for a while still. I'll see if they take her from her cell." He said.

"I'll stay, you may need back up if they do." Steve said, looking at him.  
"It's not like I have a life to go back to." Steve said, looking at Vara.

"Steve, would you mind." Natasha moved off to make room for Steve, gesturing for him to pick her up and take her back to her cell.  
He nodded, bent down and slid his arms under Vara, one under her knees and the other under her neck before he picked her up.

The three of them walked back to her cell. Tony opened the cell door and Steve took her to her room. Natasha threw open the sheets and Steve put her down, before covering her.

"I feel so sorry for her." Natasha said to them.

"She needs to pay, like you said." Steve said.

"But not like this." Tony said to him and Steve nodded.

They left the room, leaving her to rest.

When they went to go confront Fury, they saw that Thor had beaten them to the punch.

"She is under my protection and is not to be tortured; we have discussed this already Fury." Thor bellowed at him.

"She refused to tell us how their bodies work." Fury tried to justify himself.  
The others filed into the room.

"She couldn't tell you because she doesn't know. They don't have tech like x-rays on their planet." Tony said to Fury over Thor's shoulder. Thor turned and nodded to them, having seen them taking care of Vara down in her glass cell.

"You have a scientist down in the infirmary." Steve said, gesturing over his shoulder with his right thumb.

"What is the damage that has been done?" Thor asked, turning and walking up to them.

"She's fine, a little sleepy from the morphine, but she won't bleed to death." Natasha said to him, glancing at Fury over his shoulder.

"She'll have a nasty scar, but I think that'll be the least of her worries." Tony said, looking over at Fury.  
"Tell me, when you planning on telling Thor that you intend killing her." he added, walking around Thor and up to Fury.  
Thor looked at Fury, this clearly news to him.

"You plan to execute her, when was this determined?" Thor asked him.

"Nothing had been decided, and we are not going to try and kill her." Fury said, trying to quell the fears of the young god.

"Yeah, because it kinda looked to me that you were trying to save her life in there." Steve piped up and stepped up beside Tony.

"Anything you wish to know about the Fire Giants of Muspelheim, you can come to me for. I have studied them extensively." Thor said to him.

"And also, she's half Asgardian." Tony said, stepping towards Thor.  
Thor nodded, confirming her story.

"Her mother left many centuries ago to go live with her father in Muspelheim." Thor confirmed.  
"So anything you wish to know, you need no longer concern yourself with her." Thor said, turning side on, getting ready to leave.  
"Let her live out her sentence in peace, or I will be forced to intervene." He said, turning and walking off.  
"You don't want that." He added before disappearing around the corner.  
The four of them watched Thor leave before they turned to look at Fury.

"I will have Jarvis keeping her cell closed unless I open it." Tony said to Fury.

"And I'm moving into a room over-looking her cell." Natasha said to him, before turning and walking out.

"I'm not going anywhere until she leaves with Thor." Steve said, following Natasha's stance. Tony walked off, but raised an eye brow at Fury as he walked past him.

"Not a good move." He said, before walking out and back towards the lab.

Fury hung his head and leaned heavily on the table top. All he was trying to do was prevent another attack, but it seemed that by not fighting back, Vara had gained the trust of his elite team.

Thor walked into the cell where she was being held. The same kind of room that had once held his brother. The room that had almost cost him his life after being dropped from thousands of feet in the Helicarrier.

"Vara." He called into the room but she didn't answer.

"She's sleeping." Natasha said, moving her boxes to a nearby room over looking the cell.

"I need to get in and talk to her." he turned to face her.

"Here." she said, throwing her access card to him.  
He caught it and turned to the machine. He ran it over the card reader and the door clicked open, the glass door sliding open. He walked in and the door closed behind him.  
He walked over to the room and saw her sleeping in her bed. He pulled up a chair and sat at her side quietly; thinking about the magnificent free spirit that had challenged him in the war, that now lay broken and battered in the bed before him. He sat there by her until she woke up.

She mumbled softly and reached up to her head from under the sheet. She rubbed her temples softly. She then opened her eyes and looked at her arm, seeing Thor's red cape just sticking out from behind her arm.

"The Black Widow said you would be okay. But you might have a scar." He said to her softly.

"Could I at least heal up before you start the torture again." she said, sitting up slowly, straining on her sore arm and bracing herself against the wall at her back.

"I'm not here to torture you." He said to her, pulling his chair closer.

"Yes, I can see you care deeply for me." she said, rolling her eyes at him.

"According to the law of your people, you shared your bed with Loki, making him your mate and partner." He said to her, beginning to outline what he knew of their love rituals. She looked at him, frowning with suspicion, and nodded once, confirming what he knew.

"Loki is my brother. Adopted or not, we shed enough blood together to make us blood brothers." He said to her.  
"And that makes you my sister, and citizen of Asgard." He smiled his wide happy smile at her. It was so different to that of Loki's, but in some strange way, they were exactly the same.  
"But let's not talk about my brother. I have news for you." He said, sitting back against the chair, his face solemn suddenly.

"Okay, let's hear it." she said, knowing it was about her sentence somehow.

"First, your realm is doing well, considering the change of rule." He said to her, trying to ease into the bad news.  
She nodded. But she knew there was more.  
"Don't tip toe around it, just tell me." she said, looking at her hands.  
He nodded.

"Very well then." He said.  
"Your Asgardian sentence is two hundred years in the cells. No torture will be done unto you." He said to her.  
She nodded. At least she wouldn't be tortured.

"Thank you for not letting them torture me." she said to him.  
He frowned and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, there will be one torture imparted on you." He said, looking down at the ground.  
She took in a few deep breathes and looked at him.

"Name it." she said, trying to prepare for it.

"You will not be allowed to return home." He said to her.  
She gasped and looked at him in a state of disbelief. This couldn't be happening. She would never see her mother or father again. Astrid, her men, the landscape she grew up in, it was all gone.

"I tried to fight for you, but the council wanted you to never have this kind of power again." he explained to her.

"But you're the king, you can overrule them." she pleaded with him.

"I must do what's best for everyone. Please understand that." He begged her.  
She looked at him, with tears welling up in her eyes, but she looked away and down at her hands, to hide her pain from him.

"I do." She said to him.

"After the two hundred years, where will I go?" she asked him, not looking up at him.

"You will be remanded to Loki's palace, being his mate." He explained to her.  
"You will live out the rest of your days in Asgard." He said to her.  
She nodded. She didn't know what to expect, but there was one thing she was worried about. She had to know.

"Will… will he be there?" she asked, looking up at Thor.

"Eventually." Thor said, being very vague.  
He couldn't tell her where Loki was at present.

"What are the Asgardian laws on murder?" she chuckled softly.

"I think in this case, I would turn a blind eye." He laughed with her.  
He knew exactly how hurt she had been by his brother. He pitied her, he pained for her. He knew how loving and generous his brother could be, but he also knew he had a way with women, and lies. Using both to get what he wanted.

"I should leave, I have some matters to attend to in Asgard." He said, standing up off his seat.  
"They won't torture you anymore." He promised her.  
"Till we meet again sister." He said, smiling.

"See you." she smiled up at him.  
He smiled and walked out, leaving her in her cell.

She lay back down in her bed and began to think about what she had been told. A lifetime of having to see him every day. A life of remembering the look on his face when he left her. A life of hating him. A life of thinking about what could have been. She sighed and shook her head. At least she would not be tortured. She had heard that the tortures of Asgard were painful and taxing, on a good day. She closed her eyes and drifted off again, letting the drugs take her again.


	25. Chapter 25

Pain filled days turned into numbing weeks. And weeks turned into 12 months of imprisonment. It felt like it had passed so quickly. With nothing to discern the days from months, time drifted past like a soul boat departing the shores of the living.

Every month that passed, Vara could feel that she wasn't feeling well and progressively so, and it was getting worse every month. Tony had been sick a few times, so she thought that she might have caught what he had or maybe it was just home sickness. She missed the heat and the smell of the lava. Being stuck in this hole in the ground, never seeing any light but manmade was making her sick, and everyone around her could see it. They had run so many tests on her, but they couldn't find out what was wrong with her. She was losing weight and muscle tone rapidly, far too quickly for Natasha and Tony's liking. Tony had even offered to fly her out to Switzerland, to have her looked over by the best money could buy, but Fury refused, stating that she might escape in the process. Tony knew she would never do that, but Fury was right, to some degree. It was too risky.

Approaching her first anniversary of being incarcerated, it was very clear to everyone who saw her that she wasn't well at all, teetering on the knife blade of death. She had become so weak and frail; she could barely leave her bed. She would get up only when forced to, and even then, she needed help getting around and walking. It was as if she had given up.

One day, while answering some of Bruce's questions about the sword, she was ordered to pick it up. After attempting to do so, and getting shocked numerous times, she collapsed on the lab floor.

"Vara? Are you okay?" Bruce said, walking up to her and knelt beside her.

"I'm sorry Bruce, but I think I'm done for the day." She said softly, glancing over at him, her once fiery red eyes now dull brown.  
He nodded; he had known he would only have her help for a short time. But to see her like this, so, broken, it was cruel and unusual torture. Not only to her, but her friends.

"I'll call Natasha. You just stay here and rest." Bruce said, standing upright and setting his PC tablet down on the table near them. He walked to the door and disappeared, going to fetch her friend. Vara sat quietly on the metal floor, running her hand over it's bumpy surface. She remembered Loki's hands were this cool. Once upon a time. She breathed shallowly as she looked up at her sword from the floor. Oh, if her father could see her now. Weak, frail and kneeling at the feet of humans, but she had no more strength to fight. This disease would take her life, she feared. She sighed and hung her head. What did it matter? She was nothing but a shadow now anyway.

Natasha walked into the room quietly and knelt beside her, and placed her hand gently on her shoulder.

"Can you walk?" she asked Vara.  
Vara looked up and met her blue eyes and smiled weakly.

"Sure." She said, putting her hand on Natasha's shoulder and helping herself up with the help of the table on her other side. Natasha steadied her as she found her feet and began to help her down to her room.

As she was being helped back to her cell, Fury stood in his office, and watched her limp off slowly like a wounded animal into her glass box.

"Is that the same person we fought a year ago?" Fury asked Barton, who was standing next to him.

"It is, but it isn't." he said, talking in riddles again.  
Fury looked at him and frowned.

"She looks so different." Fury said to him, looking back at Vara as Natasha helped her to her bed.

"When we first saw her she was strong and vigorous, with fire in her eyes. And now she's not even a ghost of who she used to be." Barton said sadly, feeling sorry for her.  
He had heard what the scientists had been doing to her and he, like everyone else, was against it. He grew to pity her, the more he heard about her from Natasha. That day he saw her and Loki in Paris, they seemed, happy. He couldn't believe he would do that to her.

Natasha laid her down in her bed and covered her.

"Are you cold?" she asked, pulling a second blanket up over her.  
She nodded.  
"I'll turn the heat up again." Natasha said to her, walking out.  
She turned off the lights, a new system to the cell and turned up the heat.  
She looked up at the others in Fury's office and turned to meet up with him and Clint.

When she got there, she walked up to the glass and stood next to Thor, who had arrived on her way there. Thor happened to be there that day, checking up on her and he was in the office, looking down at the cell.  
"Thor." She greeted him, looking down at her friend sleeping.

"Black Widow." Thor greeted her, but the sense of urgency in their voices seemed to chill their greeting. They were all looking down at her, wondering what could be wrong.

"That's the third time this week I had to put the heat up." Natasha said, looking down at her friend.  
She and Vara had become close in the last couple of months. Having similar skills, and outlooks, they gravitated to each other.  
"Do you know why she is getting sick?" she asked Thor, looking up at him.  
Her concern for Vara was clear.

"I have no clue." He said, looking down at Natasha and then looking back at Vara.  
She looked back at Vara sleeping in her darkened cell.

"Maybe it's a broken heart." She suggested.  
The men looked to her as if she had gone soft, and crazy to boot.

"No, listen, it's been scientifically proven that when someone goes through a difficult break-up, that their heart sometimes gets physically damaged." She said to them.  
"Any sickness or weakness of the body would then, in theory, be perpetuated and appear more serious compared to a healthy individual." She explained the theory to them.  
They listened and thought about it. It was definitely a viable explanation.

"Vara and I have become close over the past few months, being similar." She said, turning to look at her again.  
"And I know that she really did love Loki and he just left her here to fend for herself, knowing what we were capable of." She said to them.  
She tilted her head when she saw Vara roll over in her bed. That was unusual. She usually slept like a rock.

"I feel sorry for her." she said softly.  
Fury stepped up next to Natasha.

"Maybe she needs something to do." He said, looking at Natasha.  
"Would she be a good addition to the team?" he asked her.  
She looked up at him with wide eyes. Everyone knew Fury wasn't the biggest Vara fan, and this took them completely by surprise.  
But Natasha nodded. She looked back down at Vara, which had just rolled over again. It seemed she was having a hard time getting comfortable with her hip bones sticking out as much as they were.

"If she can get over Loki, her hidden rage might be an asset when he comes snooping again." she said to Fury, smiling slightly.  
She knew Vara would love to be able to help them, even if it was just to get out and breathe in the fresh air.

"He won't come snooping, I believe you put it in that manner." Thor said to her.

"How do you know?" Fury asked him, stepping up to his side.  
Thor smiled briefly.

"I know where Loki is, and he won't be coming here soon." He said, looking at Fury.

"Soon, or ever?" Barton asked him.

"Never again, if I have my way. Which I usually do." Thor smiled.  
Natasha watched as the men talked and compared egos, how Vara got up from her bed and walked over to the basin.

She turned on the taps and bent down to take a drink of water, but as she was about to touch her lips to the stream, her legs buckled under her and she fell to the floor, hitting her head against the basin and then metal floor.

Without saying a word, Natasha turned and darted out the room, running down to help Vara. The others saw her run out and turned to look at the cell, seeing Vara laying on the floor, not moving. They ran out after Natasha, heading towards the cell. Natasha rushed up to the door and swiped her card, squeezing in as the door slid open, before it opened fully.

She rushed into her room and up to Vara before lifting her head off the floor. She gasped when she saw a stream of blood pooling on the floor. Natasha lifted her hand to Vara's neck and felt for a pulse, feeling a soft steady, but weak beat under her fingertips. The others rushed in after her, queuing at the door of the room.

"Is she alive?" Fury asked her.  
Natasha nodded, looking back at him.

"Barely." She said, looking at Vara in her arms.  
Barton rushed up to Vara and bent down, before picking her up. He turned and hastily walked out the room, heading out the cell. Natasha walked beside him, holding her head and neck steady as they rushed her to the infirmary.

They set her down on a bed and hooked her up to several machines. They drew some blood from her and began to run some tests. Natasha covered her with as many blankets as she could find, seeing as her temperature was now dropping to below that of a human. Something was seriously wrong.  
They all left the room and let her rest. A doctor came in a few minutes after they arrived with the preliminary findings.

"She seems to have slipped into a coma." He said to them.

"Why?" Barton asked him.

"No idea, but her health has slowly deteriorated since she first arrived." He said, closing the file.

"Thanks for that Captain Obvious." Tony said, walking into the room, followed shortly by Bruce and Steve. He had been working in the lab with Bruce after she had left and saw her collapse too.  
"My jet is ready; we can be in Switzerland by morning." Tony said, looking at Fury.  
Fury looked at Vara and saw her shallow breathing. It was reminiscent of a very sick animal, taking its last breaths.

"I can hook up the life tech to the jet. Tony, is it big enough?" Bruce asked him.

Tony turned to him with a mutinous look on his face.  
"Is it big enough, who am I? Reed Richards? Of course it's big enough." Tony grumbled. Fury just stood there looking at her.

"Nick, we need to get her help." Steve said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I fear it may be too late." Fury said softly and sadly, his heart breaking slightly

"Maybe this is the end for her." The doctor said, looking at Fury.

"This realm is making her sick." Thor said, beginning to pace angrily.  
He should have never let them keep her here; he should have taken her to Asgard to serve her sentence there.

"We need to wait for the blood work, but I don't see a good ending." The doctor said, walking off.

Fury sighed, turning to the group.  
"I was hoping this would happen when no one was here." he said, looking at them.  
They stopped in their thought processes and looked at him.

"Are you implying you knew this would happen?" Natasha asked him, pointing at Vara, her anger boiling just under the surface.  
Fury nodded.

"I know you've all become close with her." he said, beginning to explain what was wrong with her.  
"Just shy of a year ago, we did some x-rays on her." he said, moving off slightly towards the door, before turning and facing them again.  
"She has cancer." He said, finally, sombrely.  
They all drew blank faces, not believing what he had just said.

"Wh… where?" Natasha asked numbly, worried to death for her friend.

"Well, if their bodies work anything like ours." he said, walking up to the viewing window and seeing Vara sleeping in the medical bed.  
"Uterine." He said, looking at her.  
They listened to him finish and looked to Vara. They felt so sorry for her. They knew that without data on her kind, that they couldn't save her.

"Take it out." Natasha said to him.  
They turned to look at her.  
"Give her a hysterectomy." She said, looking at Vara.

"We don't know what the effects would be." Fury said to her.

"Well we know what the other end of cancer is." She said, a little of her anger showing.  
"I won't stand by and let my friend die." She said, looking at Fury.  
They all said nothing. She looked at the group. Barton, Fury, Thor, Steve, Bruce, Tony. They all seemed to be hesitant, too afraid to make a move.

She nodded, taking responsibility, leading from the front.  
"Okay." She said, walking into the room and towards a side door.  
She opened it and walked up to the basin. She took off her leather jacket and set in down on the table beside it. She then washed her hands.

"What's she doing?" Thor asked them.

"She's going to do the surgery herself." Barton said, before rushing into the room.  
"Tash, stop." He said to her.

"Clint, she's my friend. And I can help her. So I am." she said, slipping her clean hands into a pair of surgical gloves.

"There is another way." Thor said, walking into the room.  
They both stopped arguing and looked at him.  
"In Asgard, we have healing chambers that can heal any wound, any disease, and restore normality to any body." he said, looking to Fury, who was standing behind him.  
"Let me take her." he asked Fury.

"She still has four years to serve out here." Fury contested him.

"If she stays here, she'll die." Natasha protested, walking up to beside Thor.

"This place isn't right for her boss, and you know it." Barton said, joining the group.  
Fury looked to the three of them. They had a point. He sighed.

"We've learned all we can from her, but the sword stays." He countered with another offer.  
Thor nodded.

"But I will return for the sword one day. It belongs in our realm." He said, referring to Vara's and his realm.

Fury looked like he was about to put up a fight when Thor looked at him, daring him to say anything. Fury held his tongue and Thor walked passed him and up to Vara. Natasha walked up beside him and began unhooking all the machines she had been put on. He slipped his hammer up onto his arm and slid his hands under her. He lifted her up and turned.

"We need to get to the Bifrost site, now." he said, walking towards the door.  
He walked out the room and down the hall, followed by all the others. They walked out onto the helipad and towards a chopper. They all followed him and they got in. Fury instructed the pilot to fly to New Mexico, the nearest site.

After a few tense minutes, they arrived at the site, with just minutes till Vara was to die.  
They landed and got out, leaving the chopper running.  
Thor walked up to the Bifrost site, carrying Vara.

"You need to promise me that she will never come back here." Fury said to Thor over the hum of the chopper engine.

"I swear to you she will stay in Asgard." He said equally as loud.  
Fury nodded and so did Thor. He looked to Natasha.  
"When she is better, you may come visit her." Thor said to her.

"It's okay. I'm ready to say goodbye." She smiled at him.  
He nodded to her.

"I'll tell her you fought for her." Thor said and she nodded quickly, trying to come to grips that she would never see her again.

"Take care of her." she added.  
Thor smiled and nodded.

He turned away from them and walked into the centre of the Biforst site. Barton, who followed shortly after them, handed him the Tesseract machine and he took it from him. Barton stepped back, out of the site. Thor pinned one handle under his foot and held the other in his hand, and then he turned it. They disappeared into a haze of blue energy and bolts, leaving the others standing in the middle of the desert. Natasha wiped a tear away and walked up to Fury.

"How are you going to explain this to the council?" she asked him.

"The war prisoner Vara died today. Due to a lack to understanding of her kind, she couldn't cope with the rigors of living on Earth." He said, turning to the others.

"You all saw her take her last breath. Right?" he added.  
They all looked at each other and understood.

"Yes sir." They said in unison.

"Good, now let's get back; I have some paper work to fill out." He said, walking back to the chopper, his agents and heroes following him shortly.  
"I hate paper work." Fury said, getting into the chopper.


	26. Chapter 26

Back in Asgard, Thor had just arrived at the Biforst site, where Heimdallr was standing, looking over the edge of the broken Biforst.

"Welcome back my king." He said in his deep, calming voice.

"Thank you Hiemdallr." Thor said, beginning to walk off towards the main palace.

"Must I inform the guards to prepare a cell for her?" Heimdallr asked Thor, catching up to him and walking beside him.

"No, she is sick and will not be staying in the dungeons." Thor told him.  
Heimdallr nodded and turned, returning her his post. Thor walked the long way back to the main palace on the rainbow bridge, walking as fast but as smoothly as he could. As he rounded the palace walls, he walked in to see his father and mother standing at the entrance waiting for him.

"Heimdallr told us you were bringing a Fire Giant here." Odin said, walking up to Thor and Vara.  
He looked down at her in his arms and saw just how different she was from her father.

"She is no threat father; she is in no condition to fight you or I." Thor said as a group of healers stepped up to Thor and took Vara from him, walking up the many flights of steps and up towards the healing chambers.

"Is it true, is that the one Loki chose?" Frigga asked Thor, walking after the group of healers.  
Thor and Odin walked after her, following the healers.

"Yes. Those six months after the first Midgard battle, he went to Muspelheim, and cast his spell over her." Thor said.  
"We all know what happened thereafter." Thor said, stepping up beside his mother and walking into the room directly after Vara and the healers.

"She looks so different from the others." Frigga said, as they set her down in the healing chamber. They gently and systemically took off her clothes, white cotton prisoner wear she was given to wear on Earth.

"Her mother was Asgardian. Or so she told Tony Stark." Thor said to them, watching as they pulled more comfortable clothes onto her fragile pale body and left her to rest in the healing dusts of the chamber.  
"She said her mother's name was Sinmoera." Thor said to them.  
They both looked up at him and then back at Vara. Now they saw it, the resemblance to her mother.

"Yes, I remember the day she left." Frigga said to them.

"We must leave the healers to their work. The sickness she has can be deadly." Thor urged his mother, placing his hand on her shoulder. Frigga nodded.

"You two go, I will see to it that she is well taken care of." Frigga said to him.  
"She is after all, family." She smiled to Thor.  
Thor and Odin looked to each other and took their leave. Frigga stayed behind, sitting at her bedside, and watched as her skin tone changed slightly, beginning to return to its former colour.

Thor and Odin had some things to talk about.

"Should we tell him?" Thor asked his father.

"No, he is being punished, he deserves no respite." Odin said, looking toward the dungeons door that led down into the inner dungeons of the palace, where Loki was being held.

"Father please, he asks about her every time I go see him." Thor begged his father.  
Odin sighed and looked to Thor. He had yet to remember that he had given up the throne and these decisions were now left up to Thor.

"It's your choice, my son." He said to Thor, walking off.

Thor watched his father leave and turned his eyes to dungeon door. He had to let Loki know she was here and she was not well. He stepped up the door and held Mjolnir to the heavily fortified door with four massive metal locks holding it tightly shut. He held his hammer up to the each lock, and banged softly on each one, creating vibrations that rang out in the room in different tunes. The four locks combined created a tune that then unlocked the four locks, the pins springing away from the walls with a loud metallic thud, adding to the ringing locks. The locks opened up and the gears and cogs turned, opening the door before him. He then took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness.

Thor walked down the dark staircase and into the gloom. Nothing could be seen, as no torches here lit. It was one of the torture methods used. People went mad without light. He stopped outside a cell at the very end of the long hallway and looked into it, seeing Loki's form sitting in a corner. Loki looked up at him, his mask again, firmly pinned to his face, covering his mouth and subduing his silver tongue.

"She's here." he said to Loki.  
Loki struggled up to his feet and limped over to the bars. He wrapped his hands and fingers around the bars, one hand being his normal skin pallor but the other black and dying, and looked at Thor.

"She's ailing Loki. They need to toil over her to discover what is making her unwell." Thor explained to him.  
Loki frowned at him, his concern showing.

"We might not be able to save her." Thor told him sadly, preparing him for the fact that she might die.  
Loki looked at him, a tear forming in his eye, but it didn't run over onto his cheek. He dropped his eyes to the ground.

"We will try." Thor said.  
Loki dropped his hands from the bars sadly and slunk back to his corner. He sat back down and sat there as before.

"I just thought I'd let you know." Thor said walking off back to the main floor of the palace.

He now waited for news on Vara as the healers and doctors began to work on her.

As the days passed, she regained her muscle tone and began to look more like her old self. But there was something wrong. She hadn't moved since they brought her in and with each passing day, her belly seemed to bulge out more and more becoming an irregular oval shape, bulging from under her rib cage down into her lower abdomen.

Thor told the healers that the Midgardian doctors thought that is was cancer. They decided that the only way to be certain was to operate on her, and remove the cancer. Thor agreed and they moved her to a flat table. They prepared her for surgery and as Frigga, Odin and Thor watched, they began the surgery.

There was a deathly silence in the room as the only sound to be heard was the doctor cutting through her skin on her side, gaining access to her uterine wall. He sliced through one layer of muscle and saw something that was not supposed to be there. He stopped and looked more closely, before setting down his bloodied blade on the nearby table. He then slowly reached into her uterus, elbow deep.

He grasped the thing tightly, having to use both hands to grip it. Careful not to squash it, but tightly enough that it didn't slip. The three spectators leaned forward, eager to see what he had found. Thor got impatient and walked over to behind the doctor. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at his mother.

"We have never seen such a thing." The doctor said to him, beginning to pull it out of her uterus.

"Mother, come see this." Thor said.

Frigga walked up to them and came to a stand still next to her son. She gasped, covering her mouth as the doctor pulled it out of her. An assistant wheeled a table closer to him and he set it down on the table. Odin stepped forward, not believing what he was seeing.

It was covered in bright red blood, but it was clear from the shape and the little bits of white shell sticking out of the blood, that it was an egg.

"But how?" Frigga asked shocked, looking back at Vara.

"It appears that it took up her entire body cavity, displacing her organs as it grew" the doctor said, beginning to stitch her up.

"We need to do some more research, but she should improve now." the doctor said, finishing up and stepping back.  
"Get her back to the chamber." The doctor told his assistants and they wheeled her off.

The doctor walked over to the egg and looked down at it. Frigga waved her hand over it, creating water rushing from her palm. It began to wash the blood off the egg, revealing its full beauty.  
It was pearly white with a shimmer of ice blue reflecting in the light. It also had carvings on it, similar to that of a Frost Giant's cuts.

"Do you think?" Frigga asked them, looking at the huge egg.  
Odin nodded.

"These marks, they are just like his." He said, running his finger over the engravings.

"What could be in it?" Thor asked them, now that they had established that it was Loki's child.

"We will need to incubate it." Frigga said, turning to her handmaids as they ran off to find an incubator.  
"I pray it's not a monster like our other grandchildren." She said, running her hand lovingly over the white shell.  
Thor and Odin nodded.

They moved Vara up to her own room, with the egg being kept in the infirmary.  
The doctors had determined that the egg was formed by stealing the calcium from Vara's bones, and taking all the nutrients she was taking in for itself, starving her. They didn't notice it because as the egg grew, it replaced her tissue, making her stomach appear normal. But as she began to heal, the egg was pushed up, being forced up by the reformation of her tissue.

Thor thought to tell Loki, but what if removing it, killed it? It would only hurt him. So he didn't tell him.  
Everyone prayed that Vara would recover. She was weak and fragile when she came to them and perhaps the damage was too great to save her. They had to have faith that she would heal up.


	27. Chapter 27

Loki leaned back against the stone walls that held him and sighed into the metal mask. It had been so close. He almost had his plan completely figured out. If not for the Allfather sending Thor to Thanos' lair, he would have prevented the impending war with the Chitauri, and gone back to get Vara before any harm befell her.

But no, Thor had to come at just the right time to see him handing over Tesseract to Thanos. Now, the alien race was hiding, conspiring in the dark against him and all the realms, growing stronger no doubt, Vara was on the knifes edge of life and Thor was king. And there was nothing he could do to change that.

He thought back to that moment when everything went from a well layer out plan, to a disaster, to when it all fell apart.

He was standing looking at Vara in the middle of a New York street, looking at him with fear in her eyes.  
'Just reach out your hand Loki, don't waste any time, and just take her now.' His mind said to him, but time was not in their favour.

Thor was there, too close for even a single movement. He would have to come back for her, but first, the Tesseract. He opened his warp hole and stepped through it, disappearing from her sight, leaving her there with the Avengers and Fury, her men dying and defeated, and he ran.

He knew exactly where they would take her, and how to get there. He would return for her. He knew where he had to go for now. Thanos. He had to quell the thirst for power that Thanos craved, least he be tortured again the only way Thanos knew how to torture a Frost Giant. Say what they want about the legendary tortures of Asgard, those dungeons at least had water.

Loki warped back to the Thanos' lair and looked around. It was quiet, far too quiet. The great army-bearing beasts where no longer lurking in the gullies and crevasses of the barren half planet that Thanos ruled from. Loki heard feint, mouse like footsteps and turned to look behind him, only to see one of Thanos' Priests of Chaos nearing him. He turned to face him, holding the metal briefcase in his hand.

"Did you bring it, Asgardian?" the priest asked, slinking nearer to him, but skating around his comfort zone.  
As powerful as these creatures where, Loki was still a god.

"Here." Loki said, holding the case up.  
"But I need assurances." He added, dropping it down again.

"You are in no position to be bargaining, lost prince." The priest said, slipping behind a rock and reappearing on the other end, grappling to the rocky face.

"I need to hear you say it. Certain realms are to be left alone." He said, opening up a portal under the briefcase.  
"Or you'll never see it again." He added to the priest.

He looked up at Loki and the warp hole and laughed.  
"And where will you send it, it is your only permit out of this self imposed hell." The priest pointed out to him.

"You're forgetting, shadow creature, that I was tortured, brainwashed, but no matter. And as for the case, I'll send it somewhere not even I know of, thus I will never be able to retrieve it." Loki threatened and watched the priest.  
"Or you for that matter. It will be lost entirely. Permanently." Loki added, smirking. Now he had him right where he wanted him.

Even though he lacked eyes, his body language gave away that he felt threatened, fearful perhaps of the wrath Thanos would impose on him if he failed to bring him the Tesseract.

"Say it." Loki said to him.

The priest sighed and nodded.  
"Muspelhiem is to be left untouched while the realms burn. And once he has the universe, your queen is to be given a hospitable realm to rule over." He said, reiterating the two conditions Loki had in handing over the Tesseract.

Loki nodded. This is what they had agreed upon, once he realised that he had begun to feel stirrings for Vara.

"Why do you bargain for the realm of your race's sworn enemy, and not for your own people?" the priest asked him, wanting to waste as much time as he could until Thanos got back from his quest, and dispatched the whining prince.

"I am no Frost Giant." Loki said, closing up the portal.  
"I am not my father's son, neither of them." Loki said, looking down at the case.

If Thanos stuck to his word, Loki would be happy and Vara would be safe, but these priests were far from trustworthy.

"Then what are you, fallen price of Asgard?" the priest asked, hearing a warp hole open up behind the mound of rocks that lead up to Thanos' throne.  
Soon this whining little twit would be gone and they were liberated to do whatever they wanted.

"Free." Loki said, reaching out to hand the case to him.

"Do not think about handing that case of to him, Loki." Thor said, walking round the pile the rocks and up to them.

The priest turned and looked at Thor with horror. Up until this point they had merely dealt with the son of Laufey, a manageable feat, but up against the son of Odin, and his legendary hammer, there was no way to escape unhurt. The priest made to grab the briefcase, but Thor threw his hammer at it, and sent it flying right at it, knocking it from Loki's hand and spinning on the ground, out towards a crevasse, stopping before plummeting. The priest looked to Thor again, who caught Mjolnir and strode up to Loki swiftly. The priest ran off, fearing for his life more at the hands of a true Odinson, leaving Loki there alone to deal with the wrath of his brother.

"GOD DAMN IT THOR!" Loki shouted at him, moving swiftly out of the path of a punch. He needed to get to that case and get away.  
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Loki shouted at Thor, making to run up to the Tesseract, only to be pulled back forcefully as Thor grabbed his arm.

He turned to face Thor's anger, only to have something clamped around his face. He looked down and saw the metal mask that he hated so, clamped around his mouth, holding his silver tongue at bay, but also dulling his magic to nothing but a mere puff. Thor dropped him and Loki fell to his knees, breathing hard and feeling the magic drain from his life force. He looked up to see Thor walking up to the briefcase with the Tesseract in it.

"When will you learn Loki, I know you better than anyone." Thor said, picking up the briefcase and wedging it under his arm.  
He walked up to Loki and pulled him to his feet.

"Vara…" Loki managed to say through the mask.

"She has been captured by the Midgardians, along with her men. Justice will be served." Thor said, looking up at the sky.  
"I have him father." He said up into the sky.

Loki looked up, thinking that Odin was there, and getting ready to face his wrath as well, but he was not, so Thor had to be talking to Heimdallr. Suddenly, a black wormhole appeared above them, signalling that Odin was conjuring dark energy to get them back to Asgard. Loki turned to Thor and shook his head, begging his brother to stop and think. Things were going horribly wrong, and Vara would think that he abandoned her.

"No Loki, this time, you will spend a few lifetimes in the dungeons for your crimes." Thor said looking up at the wormhole.  
"Or until I have use of you." Thor said, swinging his hammer and taking off into the dark hole, taking Loki along with him.

They reappeared in a conjure room of the main palace of Asgard, with Heimdallr and Odin casting his magic, nearby. As soon as Thor's feet touched the ground, Odin ceased the magic and the hole closed up. They all stood, looking at Loki as he struggled in Thor's grip. Thor handed the Tesseract to his father, who took it from him and held it tightly. The last time he lost this gem, it was a grave mistake to leave it on Midgard. He would not repeat that mistake.

"You know what you must do." Odin said to Thor, before looking back at Loki.

Thor nodded and shoved Loki in front of him, before marching him off to the dungeons. A small regiment of Asgardian palace guards walked along with them down to the entrance of the dungeons on the bottom floor of the palace. Thor opened the main door and pushed Loki down into the darkness, forcing him deeper and deeper into the darkness, until they reached the bottom of the pit.

"The one at the end." Thor said, allocating a cell to Loki.  
Loki looked at him over his shoulder and Thor looked heartlessly at him.  
"At least you'll have a window, so you can count how many days you spend in here." Thor said, nudging Loki on with the hammer.

He walked down the long, dank, damp hallway, down to the very end. The cell gate was open and looked took a step in, before turning and looking at Thor. He began to mumble and got very animated with his hands so Thor reached out and pressed a button at the side of his mask, causing the mouth plates to separate.

"Please, brother, she'll die there, they'll torture her, I need to go back and save her, get here away from those barbarians." Loki begged Thor quickly.

"I love one of those barbarians." Thor said, shoving Loki into the cell further and closing the gate behind him.

"And I'm sure Jane is lovely, but she is human, and belongs on Midgard, but Vara, she'll die. Please brother, please." Loki begged him, calling him brother, knowing how Thor was still attached to him when he called him that.

Thor looked at him and contemplated letting him go, to go get her, but then he would just disappear and reappear somewhere at a later stage to get revenge on him again. No, he had him in the cell, and he wasn't going to let him go.

"I will negotiate the terms of her imprisonment, and she'll be under my protection. But you will not be allowed to save her Loki." Thor said, turning and walking away.

"How many times do you expect me to fall for the brother act?" Thor said, walking off, using his magic to close the mouth flaps on the mask again.  
Loki heard his footsteps grow fainter and fainter, till he heard the metal doors close at the top of the dungeons.

Oh no, it hadn't worked, he didn't believe him that Vara was in true danger on Midgard. All the time he had told lies, and the one time he told the truth, no one believed him. He threw himself at the walls in anger, pounding and screaming at himself and Thor and Odin and Heimdallr. He was so close to the end, and he had faltered, leaving the possibility of war open for all the realms.  
But Thanos would be coming for him first. He who had promised the Tesseract, twice and failed, twice.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" He swore and threw himself on the floor and pounded on the stone, hoping it would release him from the cell, but he knew better.

Every famous spell caster in all other Asgard and its history had all put some or other kind of curse or spell on this dungeon. Any chance of him escaping was made even harder when he had no magic to counter it. He screamed and yelled at his own stupidity. How could he have not expected Thor to find him? He did know him better than anyone else, well, safe for Vara.

Up in the main hall, Odin was talking with Thor, trying to find a suitable punishment for him.

"Snakes, he's always feared those venomous snakes from Vanaheim." Odin said, remembering him as a child being deathly afraid of them.

Thor nodded, absentmindedly at his father. He was thinking about Vara back of Earth. He needed to go see her as soon as possible, to negotiate her terms of imprisonment. He would go on the following day. For now, he needed to rest.

"Yes, whatever you choose father, I will support it." He said, not realising what he had agreed to.

Odin nodded and walked off, going to find the beast master of Asgard. He's sure he had one in his menagerie. Thor would return to Earth, but first, he had to stop Loki from wailing. It was disturbing the palace.

"Guards!" Thor yelled and the nearby guards responded immediately, rushing up to him and bowing in unison.

"My king." They added.

"Keep Loki quiet. His wailing will disturb the spell casters in the palace." He said, walking out of the main room and towards his bed chamber.

"Uh, sir, how do you suggest we do so?" the head guard asked him.  
They needed to know exactly where the line was with Loki, as not to cross it and disobey their king.

"Anyway you see fit, just keep him quiet." Thor said, walking off.  
The guards all looked at each other and smiled. Loki had played one too many tricks on them while he was prince. And now their time for revenge had come.

"Go get the Time Crystal. Let's start with some emotional torture first." The head guard said, sending one of his men to the weapons vault. The new guard ran off to go get the huge crystal. They all waited for his return. When he did, two massive workers were pulling a cart with the huge ball firmly nestled in it.

"Down to the little prince then." The head guard said, opening the dungeon door, before walking down into the darkness with the others following shortly behind. The men pulled the cart down to the last cell, where Loki was still screaming in anger and frustration.

"GOD DAMN IT THOR, FUCK YOU ODIN!" Loki shouted into the mask, knowing no one could hear him, but he was wrong.

"Oh shut up." The head guard said, looking into the cell, and saw Loki staying in the light of the nearby window.  
Loki looked up and him and frowned.  
Surely it wasn't time for torture yet, he had just got here.  
"Your brother," the head guard said, looking around him at the others smirking.  
"Said to keep you quiet, anyway we wish." He added, looking back at Loki.

Loki stood up, waiting for the punishment to begin, but then he heard the huge cart being pulled along the stone floor. He turned slightly to see them stopping in front of his cell. He stepped up to the bars and looked around. This was the Time Crystal. It was a huge crystal ball that possessed magical powers. It transcended space and time, allowing the viewer to see any realm at anytime since the beginning.

"How about, Queen Vara, 24 hours from now." The head guard said, before the ball lit up and blue and purple dust began to swirl around inside it, a picture slowly appearing.

This image was the future; it was what was going to happen 24 hours from that very moment in time, pertaining to Vara.

Loki fell to his knees and looked into the ball, seeing Vara, kneeling on the ground, locked up in a cell, surrounded by her angry men. She just sat there, staring blankly out into space.

Suddenly, she stood up, turned and looked right, presumably at a camera and said angrily,  
"I want to talk to your Director." She said.  
After a few minutes the prison doors opened and Fury walked in.

"I heard that you wanted to talk to me." he said, walking with his hands clasped behind his back, with an air of victory about him.

How dare he, he did nothing but blackmail her into defeat. If she had not care for her people, she would have fought to the last breath. He didn't win this fight fairly.

"I want to negotiate the release of my people with you." She said, walking up to the glass and placing her hand on it, palm down. Loki frowned at the ball, what was she planning, she had to have thought this through?

Suddenly the quiet was broken up with Fury laughing at her.  
"What makes you think I'll release them?" He said, walking up to a chair and pulling it closer before sitting down.  
"But I'm listening anyway." He smiled and leaned back against the chair back.

"I know that I am not in a position to make threats or ask for favours, but you must believe me when I tell you that my people were only following orders." She said, looking at him sitting there like he was the Allfather.  
"My orders." She added.

Loki gasped, she was taking full responsibility for this whole thing. She would bare the full burden of the punishment, alone. She was going to ask him to let her people go.

"And Loki, what was his role in all of this?" Fury asked her.

"It was me, it was all me!" Loki shouted out at the ball, only to have a spear base thrust into his face, pushing him back away from the bars.

"Let my people go, and I will tell you." He heard her say as he reeling from the blow. He struggled back to his feet and watched from a distance as she continued to negotiate with Fury.

"I beg of you, release them," she said, before swallowing hard. This was it, her final demand. The safety of her people. Loki inched closer, wanting to stop her.

'After what I've done, I can never go home.' The ball translated her thoughts in words for her as she stood looking at Fury.  
'I'll be the laughing stock of the entire realm, if not all the realms. The best thing I can hope for is the dungeons of Asgard. If I'm lucky.' It continued.

"What else do you have to offer?" Fury asked her.

"And," she said, looking at him, as Loki watched, like a deathblow seen coming a mile away.  
"In exchange, I will stay behind and submit myself to being your prisoner of war." She countered with an offer that was too good to pass up.

"NO!" Loki lunged at the ball and grasped it with both hands. He tried to lift it off the cart but with his magic gone, it was too heavy.  
"NO! DON'T DO THIS VARA!" he shouted, only to have the head guard put his hand on the ball and stop the vision.

"Heart breaking, isn't it?" he said, looking at Loki as he waved his hand and commanded the cart be taken away.  
"She gave everything for you, and you just left here there, like a worthless pieces of tar." The head guard said, seeing Loki turn and face him.

"She's not a piece of tar!" Loki shouted at him, before the guard reached into the cell and grabbed him by the throat.

"She is now, to those humans, who know exactly what those humans will do to her." The guard whispered to him.

Loki did know, Stark was too much of a ladies man to let a rare alien beauty like Vara slip through his fingers. Let alone the green beast, or the scientists that no doubt wanted to know more about her kind. She would be stripped for parts, used up in every possible way, and then dumped.

"Feeling bad now?" the head guard asked him. Loki looked over at him to meet his eyes.  
"Not bad as you're about to feel." He guard said, looking to one of the other guards.  
"Open the gate." He said, and one ran off to open the gate to Loki's cell.

The man let go of Loki's throat and walked over, and into his cell. He then walked up to Loki and grabbed him by the neck again, before throwing him into the back wall harshly. Loki thought he heard some bones break somewhere. He fell down to the ground and clutched at his chest, it had to have been a rib.

"Do you remember Theoric?" he asked Loki, walking up to him in the shadows.  
Loki had met so many people, he had to think a little before responding, and then it hit him who Theoric was.  
"Of course not. He was nothing but a soldier to you." The man said, hoisting Loki up to his feet, making sure to press on his broken rib.  
"But to me, he was a brother." The man said, looking into Loki's blue eyes and holding his gaze, before thrusting a fist into his stomach. The other men all joined in, beating Loki to a pulp, till he was no longer able to stand, and then them kicked him till he passed out.

He woke just as they were leaving. He watched them from the darkness and the cold floor.  
"Now shut up, and stay in the dark." The guard said, walking off with his men in tow.  
"Not a single word of this to your brother, or we'll come back for your pretty little royal feet." He heard the man say as they left him bleeding, hurt and alone in the darkness, contemplating his fate and future.

That was a year ago.

Loki snapped back to reality and looked blankly out the window. The sun was setting now and the sky was burnt gold and orange as it set into the abyss of night. He wondered in what condition Vara was in, and who had done this to her. If it was the Midgardians, they would pay for their sins, one way or another, when he got out of here.

But first, when Vara came to see him, he had to keep her safe and scare her away from him for life; he had to pull out all the stops. She was not one to scare easily. He had to stop her loving him. He just had to. Being connected to him, meant only bad things here.


	28. Chapter 28

Weeks passed and she made no effort to wake or move. Everything seemed to have been returned back to normal, but she remained in a coma. There was no change with the egg either, not even a movement. The surgeons had improvised a way of feeding it, as if it were still in her body, using magic, of course.

Thor thought that maybe it was time to tell Loki that she was gone and wouldn't be waking up. It would break him, but to see him day in and day out, wondering if every time the dungeon's door opened, whether it would be her, and then being let down, was killing his soul. He had not told him of the egg; for fear that it was already dead. There was only one way out, switch off the machines and let her die in peace, and send her body back to Muspelheim, to be buried alongside her mother, and father. He had known for some time that her father had died. The stress of having his daughter and heir stuck on Earth, being tortured, and not having the means to do anything for her, was too much for his old heart to handle.

That morning, after breakfast, he sombrely made his way up to her room to remove turn off the healing chamber.

Unknown to him, Vara had indeed awakened that morning, having being blasted in the face with the rays from the rising golden sun. She slowly opened her eyes and rolled her head to the side, looking out the window and seeing the sun. Something she hadn't seen since that day at the volcano with Loki. She sat up slowly, her head poking out of the golden dust storm that was the healing chamber. She was naked and she noticed at once that she had a new scar, one running the length of her lower abdomen on the side. She sighed and lent forward onto her hand, rubbing her temples.

"What the hell happened to me?" she asked herself, as if trying to jog her memory.  
She turned her head and looked to the window again. She swung her legs out of the bed and stood up. She was slightly wobbly at first, but she managed to get over to the window, leaning heavily on the sill, and breathing fast.

She looked out over Asgard and was instantly mesmerised. She had been told stories of how it was the hell off all of the nine realms and that it would be torture just to be brought here, but it was nothing like that at all. It was clean and bright, with glimmering towers of gold everywhere she looked. Some floating and rotating, some standing strong and silent on cliff faces over looking a calming and soothing ocean. It was not without its green relieves of trees and parks within the city. It was paradise.

"This must be Valhalla." She said to herself, looking back into the room, looking around for any sign that she might be right.  
Why else would she wake naked, in a place so wonderful only imagination could limit it?  
Then it hit her. If she was in Valhalla, then she was dead. She looked down at the gleaming floor, reflecting her image so perfectly back at her.

"Loki…" she said softly, thinking she would never see him again.  
He was immortal, and she was dead. Now they were separated by more than just realms and space, they were separated between dimensions. The door swung open and she turned to see who it was.

It was Thor, standing there, large as life, alive, looking at her in shock.  
She made no effort to cover herself. It wasn't as if he had never seen a woman before.

"I heard you were going to remove her from…" Odin said, walking up behind Thor, but stopping as soon as he saw her standing at the window. She nodded to him out of respect.

"Allfather. Thor." She greeted them politely.  
She then turned and looked out the window again.  
"Am I in Asgard?" she asked them, looking out at the glory of the city.  
Thor walked up to her, letting Odin in and closing the door behind him. He then turned and walked up to her slowly.

"You are." He said, looking at her body.  
She seemed to have recovered fully.

"It's so beautiful." She smiled out the window, as if the sun was intoxicating her to her very core.  
She then turned to look at the two of them as they approached her.  
"I had heard stories, but I somehow always knew it would look like this." She smiled to them.  
Odin walked up to her and unclipped his weathered red robe, before wrapping it around her. She grasped onto the robe edges, pulled it around her gently and looked to Odin.  
"Thank you." She said to him.  
"What is that thing?" she asked gesturing to the healing chamber with a slight nod.

"It is a healing chamber." Thor said to her, stepping up to her, and touching her shoulder.  
"It did its work. You're back to normal." He smiled widely.

"Why did you bring me here, I still have four years to serve on Midgard." She said, looking to the two of them.

"Your sentence there has been resolved. You need never return." Odin said to her.  
She nodded, but then she realised that her sentence here had began. All 200 years of it.

"There is one more thing you need to know." Thor said to her, taking her both shoulders, as if preparing to hand over bad news.  
She nodded, urging him on.

"Back on Earth, you got very sick and fragile and they couldn't discover what was ailing you, so I brought you here, for healing." He explained to her.  
She looked at him confused and then looked at the chamber. It made sense now.

"Okay." She said, but she was still confused.  
"Why did you save me, after I tried to kill you?" she asked, looking back at him.  
He surely had to be angry at her for trying to take Earth and listening to Loki when she should have turned a deaf ear to him.

"You have redeemed yourself and you are now considered part of the team back on Earth." He smiled to her, delivering good news.  
She looked at him and a smile broke out over her lips. She looked out the window and laughed at the thought of that.

"Team." She laughed to herself, finding it funny that they would take her under their wing, after she tried to kill them. She never quite understood why Natasha was so friendly with her. Maybe she saw something in Vara she could not see herself.

"You have given them invaluable information and thanks to you, we managed to get the Tesseract back from Loki." he said to her, not knowing how she would react to his name. She blinked and looked at him.

"Loki…" she whispered to him.  
She looked up at him and frowned. Thor knew she wanted to talk to him alone. Thor looked to Odin and nodded, asking him to leave. He nodded in response and turned around before walking out the room.  
"Have you found him?" she asked Thor sadly, not really want to know the answer.  
Thor nodded.

"He is in the dungeons, where he belongs after what he did to you." He consoled her, trying to make her feel that he deserved it.

"Can I go see him, please." she asked Thor, looking up at him.  
He smiled and led her over to the bed. He turned off the healing dust and sat her down on the side of the bed before kneeling to look her in the eye.

"Might I suggest that you wait till you are stronger." He suggested to her, hoping she would take his advice.  
Seeing Loki like he was now, in the condition she was in, might set her back.  
She thought about it a little and looked at him. Perhaps she needed to take this one step at a time, seeing as her legs were still so wobbly. She nodded and Thor smiled.

"This will be your room. You will not be put in the dungeons to serve out your sentence." He said, standing up and looked down at her.  
"I'll leave you to your rest now." he said, turning and walking towards the door.  
She thought about all the things he had said, thinking about what had made her sick in the first place.

"Thor…" she called after him.  
He stopped and turned to look at her.  
"What made me sick in the first place?" she asked him, turning to face him on the bed.  
He was dumbstruck; he didn't know how to break it to her that she mad a massive egg growing in her. It was sure to be bizarre even for her kind.

"We found an… egg." He said, walking back up to her and sitting beside her.  
"In your womb." He said to her.  
Immediately, her head began to race, thinking the Midgardians had put it in her.  
"It was using your bones to make its shell and taking all your nutrients to grow." He began to explain.  
"I don't know how the childbearing process works on Muspelheim, but we had to take it out to save you." He explained to her, preparing for the next question. It would come eventually.

"We give birth to live children, like any other mortal, why would there be an egg in me?" she asked him, looking up at his face.

"It could only have come from one place." He said to her.  
She shook her head a little, she needed more clarification. He sighed, not believing he was doing this again on his brother's behalf.

"I know you have laid with Loki, but that can mean many things. But did you ever take Loki into your bed, as your lover?" He asked her plainly.  
She nodded to him, not realising what his direction was.

"Yes, many times." she said to him.

"Was Loki your only lover?" he asked her, needing to know if it was possible that she could have had another lover.

"Yes." she nodded.  
"None before and none since." She added.

She then felt the shame wash over her. For some reason, she knew she shouldn't have slept with him. It was shameful to give into her lust the way she did, unabatedly and fiercely.  
Thor reached over and took hold of her hand. She looked at him and he smiled. He understood what it was like to love someone when your head was telling you something else.

"Then the egg can only contain your and Loki's child." He said to her.  
She nodded slightly looking at the floor, thinking. If it was an egg and not an infant that came out of her, then surely it was not normal.

"Do you know what it is?" she asked him, not meeting his eyes.  
He shook his head sadly. They didn't even know if it was still alive. Taking it from her body before it was ready might have killed it, having not seen any sign of life for it.

"No, but Loki's children tend to be monsters." He said, thinking of his other children.  
He wondered if Vara knew about them. Well, she did now.  
She nodded looking blankly at the ground.

"Monsters spawn monsters." She said sadly.  
She was no longer angry at Loki, but she felt the pain he had caused her as it had been yesterday. She still remembered his face when he warped away from her. It was a sight she would never forget.

"Can I see it, if you still have it?" she asked him, not looking at him or meeting his eyes, too lost in thought.

He nodded, stood up without saying a word and walked out the room. She sat there, alone, thinking about her future now. It was likely she would never forgive Loki. But she had bore him a child, or a monster, in the very least. She wondered what it could be, or if it would even live. This was completely unknown territory. No Fire Giant and Frost Giant had ever had a child together. She would always be connected to him in that way. She sighed and looked down at the floor. She had hoped to be able to get a clean break from Loki, until she needed to move into his palace at least.  
Every plan she had made on Earth, to avoid him at all costs, flew out the window.

The door creaked open and she looked over to see Thor wheeling a huge golden incubator with the egg in it. He wheeled it up to her, keeping quiet, not wanting to spoil the first time she saw it. He stopped it in front of her. She looked at it for a moment or two, reached out and put her shaking hand on the glass before a smile broke out over her lips.

"It's beautiful." She said, looking up at Thor.

"I pray that it's humanoid on some way, shape or form." He said softly.  
"Loki already has several children, all of whom are monsters in varying degrees." He said softly.  
She nodded, looking back at the egg. She hoped that she could at least communicate with it.

"Or maybe it's better if it just dies." She said softly.

"Why would you say that?" Thor said to her, keeping his voice low, but it was obvious that he was angry at her for saying that.

"Well, the last thing these realms need is a monster birthed from both a Fire and Frost Giant." She said, looking to him, removing her hand from the glass.  
He sighed and shifted slightly to look at her.

"If being king has taught me one thing, it's this." He said, moving closer to her.  
"Every life in significant. Frost Giant, Dark Elf, and Fire Giant, and all the other creatures in the nine realms. They all have their part to play and the fates have chosen you and Loki to be the parents of this being." He said, softly placing his hand on the glass next to where hers had been.  
"It is up to you how you raise it and I will not make a ruling to that extent, but this is the only piece of Loki you might want after you meet him." he said to her.  
She recoiled slightly and blinked at him.

"Why?" she asked him.  
He sighed and looked away from her.

"Loki has now got three misdeeds to his name. And he is being punished appropriately." He said, tilting his head slightly, indicating there was more to be told.  
"But he may have lost his mind in the process." He said, looking at her.  
She looked at the egg, avoiding eye contact with him.

"How bad?" she asked him, before looking down at the ground.  
"Can I get him back?" she asked, doubting herself even as she said it.  
Loki never loved her, he would have seen her burn in the ruins of Earth to make Thor hurt. Good thing Thor would do exactly the same thing to hurt Loki. And thus, neither could use her to hurt the other. She meant nothing to either.

"I know nothing of your relationship, so I cannot tell you the truth." Thor said to her.  
"But he's no longer the brother I know, and he might not be the lover you know either." He said to her, standing up suddenly.  
Vara reached out and grabbed his robe, catching his attention.

"Being his brother, you would know if he loved me, right?" she asked, looking up at him.  
He nodded.

"Loki is a strange soul. He doesn't trust easily, even when there is nothing there to be mistrustful of." He explained to her.  
"But I can tell you this, due to my kingship, word makes it to Loki when I go to Midgard. And every time I return, he asks about you." He smiled.  
"I think that's about as close to love as you're going to get with him." he admitted.  
She nodded. Loki had told her the exact same thing when she first began to fall for him.

"Does he know I'm here?" she asked him one last thing.  
He nodded.

"Yes." he said to her.  
She nodded back, letting go of his cape. He bowed to her, taking his leave and leaving her alone with the egg.

She knew he couldn't come see her, due to the fact that he was probably not allowed to leave the dungeons, having escaped once, they were not going to give him any chance to get that again. She looked to the egg and wondered how he would feel about it. Would it change him to the point that he could be a present father, or would it be like all his other children, none of which she had heard of until today. Loki had never told her about them, or any of the other women he had been with. She didn't even know how old he was. Surely there were at least three other women, the number of children he had. He said to her after their first night together, that he had bedded many women. She wondered if he had left them to fend for themselves just as he had her.

Now she knew that her mother was right. No man can be trusted. Did her mother foresee this, and this is why she warned her against all men, knowing Loki would come for her one day, and seduce her. Was she trying to prevent her daughter's heart break?  
Vara sighed and lay down on the bed, lifting her feet onto the bed. She should have listened. She never should have loved him.


	29. Chapter 29

Resting in luxury, and not like anything she had expected, she took a few days to fully recuperate and when she was ready, she told Thor that she was ready to go to Loki and talk with him. She just really needed the time to get over her anger for him so that she didn't kill him while he was weak and confused. She also needed to know what to do with the egg. She didn't think she was strong enough to raise it on her own. She didn't even know if she could raise a Fire Giant baby, let alone anything the hatched out of that egg. Thor waited for her to get dressed and when the door to her room opened, he turned and looked at her. As a guest slash prisoner, she had to wear white. She had been given a white wrap around dress that left both her shoulders and arms exposed. She was not allowed to wear any jewellery, and was told to leave her mothers necklace in the room. The long skirt of the dress flapped gently in the breeze as she walked up to him.

"Thank you for this, Thor. I need to confront him, I need him to know how I feel about him leaving me on that rock." She said to Thor, brushing a lock of her long black hair out of her vision.

"I caution you again, Loki is not as you recall. He has slipped from humanity, and let the beast inside take over." Thor warned her on the state of her lover.

"I know. You've already said so." She said, walking up to him.  
"I guess now the outside matches the inside." She added, looking up into Thor's blue eyes.  
Thor nodded, understanding her anger.  
"Besides, he might know what's in that egg." She said, looking back over at the egg, lying in the incubator at the window in the sun. The golden light hitting it and reflecting blue onto the walls was magnificent.

"Vara, I fear for the life of that little creature. I fear…" Thor said, stopping and hanging his head in shame. Vara frowned and wondered what as wrong now.

"Go on." She asked him.

"I fear that, removing it from the warm comforts of your flesh may have killed it." He said softly to her. She nodded to him. It was not as if the thought had crossed her mind. But she had to have faith. This was the only part of her Loki left, and she would never give up on it. Never. For as long as she drew breathe, she would hold it for the birth of her child.

"I understand. But I have hope. And time. I have nothing if not time to wait for it." She smiled at Thor, lifting his spirits a little.  
"So, how do I look?" she asked him, holding out her arms for him to see the dress.

"Good. That will change his mind, if he still has it." he smiled at her.  
"It will be fitting test." He said, gesturing to the huge arch in front of them, leading down to two mirror image stair cases.  
"After you." He said to her.  
She nodded to him, acknowledging his manners and walked past him, towards the arch and the then stairs. She walked as she would in Muspelheim. With dignity and care, finesse and sweeping movements, her dress flowing as she walked down the right hand staircase with Thor following shortly after.

It was clear to the guards at the foot of the stairs that she was no ordinary prisoner, carrying herself with grace as she walked down the stairs. They bowed to her and Thor was they walked past them. She inclined her head to them, acknowledging their show of respect. She walked to the middle area below the two staircases and Thor walked up next to her, gesturing to the doorway in the wall under the stairs. It was locked with four massive padlock type locks.

"He's in there." He said to her.  
She looked to the door and wondered how he got out the first time.

"How did he manage to escape in the first place?" she asked Thor, looking to him.

"We never got as far as the door. He got away from me for just a second and before I could stop him, he was gone." Thor explained.  
"Loki and his tricks will be the death of me." he added, walking toward the doors.

She walked after him. She watched how he opened the locks, just in case she would need the info later on in her life. He held his hammer up to the each lock, and banged softly on each one, creating vibrations that rang out in the room in different tunes. The four locks combined created a tune that then unlocked the four locks, the pins springing away from the walls with a loud metallic thud, adding to the ringing locks.  
Thor looked to her, with a serious look on his face.

"This is your final opportunity to amend your resolve." He warned her.  
She looked down into darkness, barely able to see the outlines of the steps.

"No." she said, shaking her head.  
"I'm ready." She said, looking to Thor.

He nodded and stepping into the doorway, walking down the dark passage. She tried to follow him, but she couldn't see much. She held out her hand and made a small flame, and stepped into the darkness, only having the flame die out in her palm the second she did. She tried to make another, but it died as well.

"THOR!" she called out to him.

"Just walk, the stairs will not let you fall." He said from the darkness.  
She sighed and took in a deep breath. She had learned that there were several things that were enchanted in the main palace. The stairs were only one of the many. She took a step and her foot landed on a step. She took another, landing on yet another step. She sighed in relief. She walked down, after Thor. Not being able to see anything, she bumped into him near the end of the stairs.

"Why can't I make a flame?" she asked him, placing her hands on his shoulders, so he could guide her.

"It's enchanted as well. Prisoners may not use magic in the cells. And seeing as you have a sentence to live out, you're a prisoner." He said to her, stepping out onto the landing at the bottom of the stairs. She sighed and looked at the cell to her right. It was dark and dingy, and she was barely able to make out a figure in the cell. It was clearly not human. Suddenly and without any provocation, it launched at the bars, and into the subdued light, and Vara saw that it was a massive black wolf, with sharp fangs, glinting in the dimness, wanting to rip into her. She jumped back, surprised by it unprovoked ferocity.

"What the hell!" she shouted at it and this only provoked it further, and it forced one of its paws through bars, clawing towards her. Thor held his hammer up to the monster and shot out a bolt of lightning, hitting it on its torso. It yelped and ran back to its dark corner. Vara tip toed backward, now paranoid, to the next cell, wanting to avoid a replay.

"What was that?" she asked Thor, gasping for breathe.

"Fenrir. One of Loki's children." He said to her, turning to see the terror on her face.

"My child could be like that monster?" she asked him pointing to the whimpering wolf.

"I pray not." Thor said, walking on through the darkness.  
Vara kept close to him. Not being able to use her magic, he was her protection from any other monsters hiding in the dark cell.

They reached the end of the dungeon passage. The only one with a window close by, with the light barely trickling through. Thor stopped just short of the cell, at the nearest wall and gestured to her to carry on walking.  
She looked to him, and with a little hesitation, she took a few more steps, to the middle of the gate of the cell that imprisoned him. She looked at Thor, to afraid to look into the cell. Afraid that Loki might have reverted to the kind of father that belonged to that thing in the first cell.

"Loki." he said, looking into the cell.  
"You have a visitor." Thor added.

They heard rustling at the back of the cell, where Loki was normally. Vara finally brought herself to look into the cell, hearing the noises. But then there was nothing but darkness to see, even with the light. He was clearly in there, but he either didn't want to see her, or he didn't know her. Thor had said that he lost his mind. She looked back to Thor, who then held up his right hand and snapped his fingers.  
Inside the cell, something metal fell to the floor, clanging nosily in the dark stones. They listened as the ringing slowly faded into nothingness, being replaced by silence. Thor looked to her and nodded, before heading back to the entrance.

"My _dear_ brother, aren't' you staying for tea?" Loki tried to provoke Thor was he walked away, before laughing manically at his own humour.

He sounded bitter, and angry, but at the same time, suppressed and scared. Vara stepped up to the bars and lifted her hands up to them before wrapping her fingers around them, looking into the darkness. She could only just make out his shape in the corner of the cell, crouching like a beaten animal away from light and the reach of his brother. He was in there. He was different, but it was him.

"Loki…" she said softly and kindly to him.  
No doubt he hadn't heard kindness in months. She could see him turn his head and look at her. He now knew she was there, but did he now who she was. He stood up from the floor, pushing himself up weakly using the wall for support before limping over to her slowly, making his way into the light. She met his eyes as he entered the little light there was and if his eyes looked dead on earth, looking at her just before he ran, they were now nothing but skeletons, staring out into the space that she occupied. He blinked a few times. She wasn't sure if his eyesight was going, or if he didn't believe what he was seeing. Either way, it was disheartening to see him in such a state. Her lovely, charming, intelligent, cool tempered Loki locked up and caged like a wild animal.

"You." He said softly, still not realising she wasn't a mirage and that she was really there.

"Do you recognise me, Loki?" she asked him, wanting see some kind of sparkle in his eyes like he had when he was with her.  
He looked to the floor and slunk back into the shadows of the cell.

"You shouldn't have come to see me." he said softly.  
She knew they had broken him, but how, and why. Yes, he had committed a crime, but to break him so thoroughly was just cruel.

"I wanted to come see you." She said urgently, trying to get him to come back to the bars.  
"There are some things we need to talk about." She said, realising that Thor might be right.  
He might have been too wrecked to make sense.  
"Like, what happened back on Midgard, for starters." She said, looking at him through the veil of darkness.

"Isn't it obvious," he said, looking slightly over his shoulder her before looking away again. She noticed he was hunched over slightly, no longer the proud prince of Asgard and king of Jötunheim, he now carried himself as a slave, as a prisoner.  
"I only needed a distraction to get the Tesseract." He said, not turning and looking at her as he began to break her heart all over again.  
"And you were the most beneficial distraction I could take to Midgard." He said, as a small smile playing over his skinny and gaunt face.  
She looked down at the ground and sighed, before sitting down on the ground at the bars. This was going to be a long conversation.

"That couldn't have been the only reason." She said, looking into the cells, and looking up at him as he stood in the darkness. He still had not made a move to come back to her.  
"I know you felt something for me. Nights like we had can't be faked." She said, trying to get him back to her and out of his abyss.

"It's easy to act with a willing partner." He countered, still trying to convince her that he felt nothing for her.  
She wasn't falling for it. She shook her heard quickly and looked down at the ground.

"I'm not willing to accept what you are saying." She said to him, still convinced that her Loki was in there somewhere.  
"Is it true that you have other children?" she asked him, looking back up at him.  
He turned to her quickly, the rage overwhelming him, but not enough to come into the light again.

"Leave my children out of this." He hissed, warning her, taking a single step forward.  
She looked up at him and rolled her eyes, ignoring his threat, whatever it was and continued. Talk of his children had made him mad enough to face her, so she had no choice but to continue. She had to get him to come back to the bars.

"What do they look like?" she asked him. She had to know what her child was likely to look like and if it was just better to destroy the egg now while she control over it.

Suddenly he leapt at the bars, stooping to be eye level with her, scaring her so much that she leaned away from the bars, far enough to feel safe. He reached through the bar with his one good hand and clawed at her, just like that other creature had.

"Forget about me and my children." He said; his madness showing from his wild and animalistic actions.  
He was gnawing at his lips, as if he could taste her flesh that he would have ripped from her if she had been in reach.  
"And anything else Thor has told you." He said, smiling slightly, seeing her back up against the opposite wall, scared for her life.  
He wanted to scare her, so she would never come back here.

She was his only torture. The snakes, the bolts of lightning, all of that was nothing compared to having done what he did to her. Instead of just reaching out and taking her with him, he ran. She tortured him everyday, her pleading playing out in his head every moment of everyday for the past year. The look on her face broke him even more than he had anticipated.

"WHAT DO YOUR CHILDREN LOOK LIKE!" she shouted at him this time.  
She had to know, even though he was so mad, she barely knew if he knew he had children. He smiled; glad to see that her fire hadn't been killed.

"They are monsters…" he said, leaning into the bars, as far as his head would allow him, trying to get at her. His bottom jaw was jutting out from the cell, baring his teeth at her.  
"Like me." he said to her, slithering back behind the bars.  
"Only one is good, and he is Odin's eight legged horse." He said, looking at her, knowing she would wonder how he did that.  
She sighed and looked at the maniac sitting in front of her. Just feet away, was the man she loved. But he was in that thing.

"Why do you insist on treating me like this?" she whispered to him, in a soft comforting voice.  
"After what we had. What we can have again." she asked him, moving slightly closer to him.

"It's what's expected of me." he said, moving back slightly away from her advancements, back into the darkness. Away from her.  
"I'm a heartless monster and I feel nothing for you." He said, seeing her stop.  
Had he done it, had he convinced her to leave him for good? He hoped so.  
She shook her head. She still didn't believe him.

"I don't believe that." She said, standing up off the floor and looking to the exit.  
"GUARD!" she called out down the hall and soon a guard come down to where she was.

"My lady." He bowed to her.  
Loki looked at her, standing up tall and proud, just like he knew her. He just sat there on the cold floor and looked up at her and the guard. He knew that look on her face, she was about to do something stupid to prove she was right.

"What… what are you doing…" he said softly, pulling himself along the floor, backing away from the gate and into the wintry comfort of his cold corner.

"Open this gate." She said, pointing to the locked gate that was the entrance to Loki's cell.  
"I want to go in and talk to him." she told the guard, looking at Loki, backing away from her, sliding backwards along the floor.

"But my lady, he will hurt you. He's mad." The guard tried to talk her down from her ledge.

"He will not hurt me. I trust him." she said, looking down at Loki as he disappeared into the back of the cell, right up against the wall.  
The guard sighed and held up the key to the lock.

"Very well my lady." He said, putting the key in the lock and turning it.  
The door swung open as if having a life of its own and Vara walked in, before hearing the guard lock the door behind her.

"Call me when you're ready to leave." The guard said to her before walking off.  
Vara turned and looked back at Loki sitting in his corner.

"That was a bad idea." He said resentfully to her.

"Oh drop it, I know you can't use your magic in here." she said, looking at him.  
"Why don't you come out of the shadows and talk to me a little more." She asked him, not wanting to scare him.

"No." he said to her.  
"You come into the darkness. It's where you belong." He said to her.  
She tilted her head and agreed with him slightly. It where she was born and where she came from. It was where she belonged. She took in a deep breath and stepped into the darkness, towards him.


	30. Chapter 30

She slowly made her way towards him, as he watched her carefully. It was almost as if he was afraid she would hurt him like Thor had. She softly and carefully sat down next to him, careful not to make any sudden or unexpected movements. He really was like a caged animal. A wounded one at that.  
He looked at her and they shared a stare. She wouldn't back down. Her Loki was in there, and she wouldn't stop till he was with her again.

"You shouldn't have come." he said softly to her, holding her gaze.  
She didn't break from it as she prepared to ask him another question.

"I understand that all you want is to be left alone." She said to him, leaning against the wall just as they did when they had their first real conversation.  
She looked over at him and smiled sweetly. She did understand it. Somewhere in that mess, he was still the proud prince, and for her to see him like this was torturous.  
"But I need to tell you something." She said, looking at their feet, seeing how different they were, representing the situations they were currently in. She was wearing shoes, clean and simple. He was barefoot and his all the skin she could see, including his feet, was dirty. He clearly hadn't washed in some time. A stark opposite of her Loki, who was always clean shaven and fresh looking.

"You don't understand." He said, turning and bracing his right shoulder against the wall and turning to face her head on.  
Maybe to make himself look more intimidating.  
"I've been in here for months upon months. No contact at all. That lock, has not been touched since Thor locked it when he threw me in here." he said, gesturing to the lock. He left out the part about the guards and Thor torturing him in the cell. It might be too much and she might go on a rampage through the palace.

"Finally, you're making sense." She smiled at him.  
He sighed. She wasn't backing down. He needed to scare her. But how?

"There is no telling what I would do to you." He said, adding some underlying danger to his voice.  
She looked up at him and laughed. He looked at her and frowned. Was she really laughing at him? Did he look so pathetic that she thought she was safe from him, even here?  
She kicked out with her foot in a fit of laughter, kicking something metallic at her feet.

"Now I can handle anything you can throw at me." she said stifling her last giggle before looking at the mask at their feet.

She stared at it, wondering at first what it was, and then where it came from.  
He looked at the mask as well, having to rethink his plan. Somehow he needed to get her to hate him, to leave him. So she would never come see him again.

"You left me standing there, in the middle of the street, surrounded by the Avengers, my men imprisoned. I thought you at least liked me enough to reach out and take my hand." she said, turning to look at him after looking at the mask.  
"I was so angry at you." She said to him, trying to get his attention as he stared blankly at the mask.  
"I never wanted to see you again; I wanted to take you up on that fight you suggested back on Muspelheim. And I would have played dirty to try and kill you." She said, anger dripping from her whispers.

"But things have changed now." she said to him.  
"I need to try and get along with you." She said, hoping he would ask why.  
He didn't. She would have to make him more comfortable with her presence and her words before she told him about the egg.

"They imprisoned the Fire Giants, and I negotiated the others freedom in exchange for my incarceration." She said, looking back at her feet. He said nothing but still stared at the mask. He didn't want her to know he watched her bargain away her freedom and cried for her to admit his role in all this.  
Being subjugated by the humans was something she never regretted, even when they were torturing her. She knew her people were safe. Starving, but safe. Still he said nothing, but she could see something in his eyes begin to change. It was working. She just needed to keep talking, triggering emotions.

"They wanted to know everything." She said, beginning to fidget.  
He glanced over to her hands. She was getting nervous about something, that's the only time she used to fidget. But what and could he use it to get rid of her?  
"From the day you arrived on Muspel, to the day we left. They even kept my mother's weapon." She said, beginning to fidget even more noticeably.  
There was something in her story that was making her nervous. And getting to the end of it was the trigger to her anxiety.

"They kept me locked up in that cell for so long, I thought I'd never see the light again." she said, chuckling slightly at her stupidity.  
"I know what its like to be a prisoner. And to be tortured." She said, slowly holding out her right arm for him to see the huge scar that ran along the length of her forearm. He looked at it, his anger showing in his eyes for a moment, and then it was gone. It was working, slowly.  
But still he said nothing.

"But then, I began to feel weak and frail." She said, looking at her hands.  
She knew that she was giving away her game. But she couldn't stop herself.  
"Eventually, I couldn't even speak full sentences or walk on my own." She said softly, remembering those last few weeks on Earth.

"The last thing I remember is collapsing in SHIELD HQ. And then I woke up here in the healing chamber. Thor brought me." she said to him, and this dragged a response out from him. He scoffed at Thor's name.

"He saved my life." she said slightly irately, turning to face him.  
"On Midgard, they never would have found the problem." She said to him, trying to make him understand just how close it had been for her.

"And what was the problem?" He asked her, turning to face her again, meeting her gaze.  
She took in a few breaths and looked away from him. Did she tell him the truth? Would he turn their child into a real monster? One that would one day end up in here.  
"I was… growing an… egg… in my womb… and it was sucking the life out of me as it grew." She said slowly, trying to space it out so that if he was mad, he wouldn't remember the last thing she had said.

But unfortunately for her, he was completely sane.  
He stopped his thought process and looked at her, a frown just visible on his forehead in the dim light. She looked to him and smiled sweetly.

"I don't know what's in the egg, but that it's your child." She said softly to him.

"It can't be." he whispered softly, his mouth slightly agape.  
He didn't understand, they had only been together a handful of times; surely it couldn't have happened so soon. And she had been gone for well over a year, it couldn't have been his.

"It is, it's in my room right now." she said to him, leaning back on the wall.  
The hard part was over now. All she had to do now was see how he would react to the news.

"I… I never thought I'd be… a father again." he said, softly, still in shock, before looking at her.

"What do you think it could be?" she asked him, moving slightly closer to him.  
He looked to her and smiled. She smiled back. He was slowly coming back to her.

"I have no clue." He said loudly, a wide smile breaking over his chapped lips.  
"None of my other children were carried in an egg." He said, realising that this child was very special.

She smiled and laughed, finally having broken into his mind and dragging him out. Who would have guessed a child could do that. He joined in with her laugh and the two of them sat there, laughing hysterically at nothing really. It just felt right.  
She eased out of the laugh, giving little chuckles every now and then before turning to him and wiping a tear from her eye.

"Do you feel better now?" she asked him, the chime of her laughter still lingering on her lips.

"A little… but it's little consolation." He smiled and then it faded, realising he would most likely never see his child.  
"My life in here will be long and painful." He said, looking to the bars as if he wished they would just disappear.

"Then plead for your case, Loki." she reached out and touched his left shoulder softly.  
"Change your ways and try to be better. Become good." She begged him.  
"For the sake of your child, please, just try." She begged him again.  
He looked down at the ground and sighed. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried. But Thor no longer trusted him; he would most probably never trust him again.

"I'm scared… scared that our child will be a monster. Like Fenrir back there." She said to him.  
"One I can't control." She pleaded with him, explaining her fears to him.  
"I need your help. We are its parents, and we need to work together in raising it. Please Loki, please." she said, running her hand down his arm to his hand and grasping it tightly.  
"I've always needed your help." she whispered to him, leaning on his right shoulder. He didn't know what to do, comfort her, or push her away and he just sat there awkwardly for a few moments.

"You'll be fine. You can control him." he whispered to her, thinking of kissing her on the top of her head, but that would send the wrong message.

"I'm thinking of joining the Avengers." She broke the other news to him.  
He shook her head off his shoulder and looked at her angrily, a frown furrowed into his brow.  
She shrugged, sensing his anger.

"I'm not allowed to go back home." She said to him, looking at their hands.  
He hadn't pushed her hand away.  
"Natasha said it's kinda cool." She smiled, remembering her friend.  
"And I have no other place to go." She said, looking at his ice blue eyes.  
"Then again, I'm not allowed back in Midgard, so I guess that's out of the question." She sighed to him.

"There are hundreds of thousands of realms to choose from. I can take us there and we live in peace." He suggested to her.  
She smiled. He was already thinking like his old self. Thinking of breaking out.

"So, you do care for me." she whispered to him.  
He smiled and looked at the bars, shrugging slightly. He licked his sore and aching lips, so that they wouldn't crack again.

"Yes, I do, but I had some matters to tie up." He said looking back at her.  
"I always intended breaking you out of any prison they put you in, but right after I gave the Chitauri the Tesseract, Thor caught up with me and imprisoned me, putting that gag on me." He said, looking at the metal gag on the floor. She looked to it and then back at him.  
"I couldn't even tell him to go save you." He added, leaning his head against the wall.  
She looked at him, realising she might get burnt again.

"I'm aware that you're a very good liar." She smiled at him.  
"Were you lying, just now?" she asked him softly, squeezing his hand gently.  
He smiled and shook his head.

"No." he smiled.  
He grasped hold of her hand tighter and lifted it to his lips, kissing it softly.  
"I made a connection with you that I haven't felt since I was banished from Asgard." He said to her, laying her hand on his shoulder, still holding it.  
"Maybe ever." He added.

"You were never banished." She said to him, moving closer to him, cuddling up to him slightly.  
"Even now, they're looking for some good in you, so you can live a normal life." she whispered to him.  
"I have to stay here, for a very long time." She said, looking at the floor in between them.  
"I will plead for your freedom, if you promise not to give into your bad side again." she said, looking back up at him.

"There is no good and bad, just evil." He whispered to her.  
He looked at her lips and he longed to kiss her, to rip her clothes off and to make love to her, but he didn't deserve her any more.

"I don't believe that." She shook her head, looking at his lips.  
"There is good and bad in everyone." She whispered to him, looking back up at his eyes. She leaned onto his shoulder and reached up with her other hand, gently caressing his right cheek.  
"Let me try and save you." She whispered to him, looking up at the bottom of his jaw.

He winched softly when she ran her fingers a little too hard over his cheekbone and he turned to her, revealing the truth of his torture. She held back a gasp, but her anger was clearly visible in her eyes. Her Loki, her beautiful, cream skinned Loki, had been badly beaten, so much so that the angry blue marks were visible to her even in the dimness. He smiled sadly, wanting to quell her anger before reaching up and placing his other hand over hers as she softly ran her fingertips over the bruise. But that's when she noticed that his hand felt different as well, so she glanced over and looked at it, while he held his gaze at her. The beautifully creamy skin on his left hand that had caressed her so, had gone black, and looked excruciating.  
She looked up at his eyes and then back down at his hand and she hung her head, leaning gently against his chest.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered to him, tears welling up in her eyes.

"This is my punishment," he said, looking at his hand that he had moved down to her other hand, holding her other hand as well with his good hand.  
"Everyday, I'm bitten by a snake on my hand." he said, looking at how disgusting and dead it looked. Nevertheless, she didn't pull away from it.  
"I writhe in pain and madness until the next day, and then it happens all over again." he said, looking back at her.

"That's awful." She said, looking at his hand in her own.  
She wondered if it would ever recover. He did have such beautiful hands.  
"Isn't it worth being good just for that?" she asked him, looking up at his face again.

"Even if I tried, it wouldn't work." He sighed to her.

"Try, please just try…" she whimpered, her tears escaping her eyes without her being able to stop them.  
He looked down at her tears expecting to see lava drops but instead he saw a normal tear. He then realised, that with her living on Earth of a year, and now living here, she had turned into an Asgardian.

"Please, Loki, please." she pleaded with him.  
He reached up and placed his blackened fingers on her lips, shushing her.

"I will try." He said simply to her, looking at her face.  
She sighed and leant forward to hug him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. At first, he had no idea how to respond to it, having been hugged so long ago. But it soon came to him and he gently wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to him into a hug.

She nuzzled her head into his chest, wanting to hear his heart beat and he soon began to feel the familiar stirrings in his gut again. She was so close now, he could feel her warmth. Any human warmth was welcomed in this dark cold place. He leant down and gently kissed the side of her neck, willingly slipping into that old habit of seducing her.

Not that she minded. She had longed for his touch for so long; their time together had already begun to feel like a dream. But she knew where this was going and this was too soon. She released him, pulling back and looking at him, leaning back, but she didn't move too far away from him. Who cared if it was too soon, she wanted him. She reached up and cupped her hand over his left cheek, and gently pulled him in for a tender kiss. He leaned into the kiss, moving just as softly. His lips hurt from the cracking and this was making them feel worst, but he didn't care. He wanted her.


	31. Chapter 31

He reached up with his black hand and cupped it over her cheek, as the kiss slowly become more feverish. It was as though they had died and were now being reborn now with a kiss of fire. It was a breath of fresh air and light in the dark despair of imprisonment. He slowly began to move closer to her, and with her not being able to move back, he ended up gently pushing and forcing her down to the floor with his body. He towered over her and without breaking the kiss; they began to undress each other. She ripped at his dirty white outfit, wanting it to end up in bits at her sides, tearing off a button or two. He reached down and slid his hand down her side and to her thigh. He squeezed it softly before beginning to pull the dress edge up closer to his hand, before running his hand up under her dress, wrinkling the dress up as he did. He ran his hand around to her rear and the dress was forced up to her waist.

He broke the kiss and leaned back, before taking his shirt off and dropping it to the floor. He was skinny, but there was still some strength in his muscles. He leaned back down and kissed her again. She kissed him back, knowing exactly where this was going. But she couldn't help herself. He broke the kiss and began to kiss her down her neck. He forced her dress up further up her torso, until her round breasts were exposed. He moved to the inner end of her left collar bone and began to gently work his way down her torso, caressing her breasts and sliding his tongue over her belly, feeling her new scar at her side under his fintertips.  
He made his way down to her lower belly, paused, and looked up at her as he kissed her stomach softly. She looked down at him, breathing hard and noisily, and she was blushing profusely, as she always did.

"Loki, we can't…" she managed to say to him.  
He smiled and continued to kiss her, making his way down into her crook. She arched her back and grasped for the top of his head as he caressed her swell with his tongue, finding her pleasure pearl and flicking it slightly with the tip of his tongue. She moaned softly and looked down at him again.

"Loki…" she blushed, before throwing her head back as the pleasure rushed through her body before she could fully stop him.  
"Ahh…" she moaned loudly, threatening to alert the guard.  
"Loki… Loki stop." She begged him breathlessly.  
He sat up and looked at her writhing in slight pleasure at his knees.

"Why?" he asked her softly, a smile on his face as he leant forward again and made his way over to her face, hovering over it with his own. She reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders and breathed in heavily.

"I need to learn to trust you again." she whispered to him, slowly taking control of her body again.  
He sighed and hung his head. He thought that he would at least get something from this whole interaction, but he had hurt her too badly. He understood. He looked up at her and nodded, swinging his leg back over her and moving away.

"I understand it must be hard for you, having been hurt so severely." He said, leaning back against the wall, his left leg bent under him and his other leg arched over that one.  
"Leaving you there a mistake." He said, looking at her still lying on the floor, trying to overcome the pleasure wave he had crashed upon her.

"If Thor hadn't caught me right after I left the Earth, then I would have come back for you." He said, watching her as she sat up and pulled her dress hem back down to her ankles.  
He smiled and then he looked around the dungeons and sighed sadly. It was far more than just stone and mortar.  
"In here, all my powers are nullified, and I'm just mortal. Hence I can be injured." He explained to her, looking down at his blackened hand.

She made her way over to him and leaned on his shoulder again, curling her legs up under her before sighing herself. She wrapped her arms around his right arm, hugging it softly.

"I will speak with Thor and see if he can negate your punishment. As he has mine." She said to him. He nodded before he leaned his head against the stone wall.

"What is you penance number?" he asked her, staring out blankly into the darkness.

"200 years." She said sadly.  
Loki nodded. His was life, but he didn't want to tell her that. If Thor didn't listen to her, he would never again see the light of day. His brother was still as stubborn as ever.  
He turned his head and placed his lips on the top of her head and kissed it gently.

"I promise to work harder at being a better person." He whispered to her, leaning his lips against the top of her head.  
She nodded, smiling. He was no longer the vengeance driven villain that she had seen on that first day in the throne room of Muspelheim. He wasn't even the mad man she had seen in the beginning of this interaction. In the course of an hour, she had changed him.

He deserved to see his child.

"Would you like to see the egg?" she whispered to him.  
A silence filled the dark cell and she looked up at his face from his shoulder. He smiled and nodded.

"Very much so." He whispered to her.  
She nodded and pushed herself up from the floor. She turned and held out her hand to him once she was up. He reached out and took it, without hesitation, with his good hand and she helped him up. She bent down and gathered up his shirt, handing it to him and steadying him as he slipped it back on. She helped him through his limp to the gate.

"GUARD!" she called to the guard, who came walking down the passage a few moments later.  
He saw her holding Loki up and wondered why she would want to help him, after all the things he had said to her.  
"Call Thor for me, please." she instructed the guard.  
He nodded and walked off, going to find him.  
He was clearly just outside the main gate as he was there just a few moments later.

"You wished to see me." Thor said, looking at the two of them. What a pair they made, her holding him up while all the time he was looking for way to crush her. It was a constant pushing and pulling in their relationship. Maybe that's why it worked. They challenged each other, and made each other better every time they rose up from the ashes.

"I want to show him our egg." She asked Thor politely.  
Thor looked to Loki and saw that his spirits were slightly lifted. Enough for him to attempt escaping again.

"No, I cannot risk it." Thor said, looking at her.  
"If he takes flight again, I will have no alternative but to put him to death." Thor explained to her.  
"I will not risk losing my brother." He added, looking at Loki.  
Even though the brother he once knew was no longer in this being in front of him, he still considered him his brother.

"He won't escape. Not this time." she said, before looking to Loki.  
"Tell him. You will not try to escape again." she said to Loki, begging him softly to agree with her.

He nodded his head, agreeing with her, not meeting Thor's eyes. He had been beaten so severely that he was even afraid to meet his gaze. Vara wondered if Thor himself had administered the beatings. She hoped not, because then her perception of Thor would be rattled to the core.

Thor sighed and nodded once to Vara. He stepped up to the gate and unlocked it, letting it swing open as he stepped aside for them to walk past them. As Vara and Loki walked out slowly, Thor went into the cell and picked up the metal mask that had fallen to the floor in the beginning of the meeting. He turned and walked back out to the cell, holding the mask. He caught up with Vara and Loki and stepped in front on them, stopping their slow progress. He looked to Loki, who looked at the mask as though it was the snake that had been biting him. He held it out to Loki.

"Put it on." Thor instructed him.  
Loki looked at Vara, and he was clearly mortified that she would have to see him with the mask on. He remembered catching glimpses of himself in the mirrors of the palace when he was brought in. He looked truly terrifying with it on.

"Please, don't make me do this. I don't want her to see me with it on." He pleaded with Thor softly and as dignified as he could, still looking down at the floor.  
But it didn't sway Thor. Thor didn't wait for him to try and convince him again but instead he stepped forward before ferociously forcing it onto his face, coving his mouth as Loki writhed to try and get away from him. Vara let go of the struggling pair and stepped back, pressing herself against the wall, watching in horror as Thor pinned Loki to the wall beside her and clasped the mask on. Thor reactivated the magic of the mask and it snapped around Loki's head tightly, barely leaving him enough room to breathe. Vara gasped and watched at Loki turned away from her, thinking she was gasping at him. But she was merely taken aback at how fierce Thor had been with the man he claimed to love as a brother. She watched to scream at him, hurt him, but she needed to stay in his good books, if Loki stood any chance of having his sentence negated.  
Thor stepped away and Loki stumbled against the wall, struggling to stay up on his injured feet and weak legs.

"This is a disgusting thing to do, is it really necessary?" she begged Thor, stepping up and supporting Loki again as he struggled to keep his balance and made sure she didn't see his face.

"It nullifies his magic outside the cell." He explained to her.  
She looked at Thor, her eyes begging him to take it off.

"He cannot be trusted." Thor said simply, looking at Loki, who was looking away from him again.  
She turned to Loki and he slowly turned his head to meet her eyes. He wondered if she would run now. She reached up and ran her hands over the mask and his skin alike.

"It's okay. It doesn't detract from your splendour." She smiled, leaning her forehead against his.  
"I can get used to it." she whispered to him.  
He leaned against her, a tear falling from his eye.

Acceptance. Finally, someone had accepted him for what he was. She could hear him whisper to her from inside the mask.

"Thank you." He whispered to her, barely audible.  
She doubted even Thor could hear it. She nodded and looked to Thor.

"Thank you Thor." She said, turning and beginning to help Loki to the room.  
As they passed Fenrir's cell, the massive wolf lifted his head and looked to Loki limping past, and he saw Vara helping him.

He stood up and Loki whispered to Vara to stop. She did, watching as the beast walked up to the bars. Loki held out his hand to him and Fenrir placed his massive head against Loki's hand.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." He whispered to Fenrir.  
He whimpered softly, as if saying it was okay. Fenrir looked to Vara and she thought of backing away. But this time, there was no anger in his eyes. It was as if he knew she was helping Loki. Vara looked to Loki, a smile almost visible from under the mask. She wondered when was the last time he had seen his son. She caught Thor's gaze behind Loki and he gestured for her to carry on walking. She nodded and looked to Loki.

"We need to carry on moving." She whispered to him.  
He looked to her and nodded sadly. She turned and began walking off, leaving Fenrir whimpering like a puppy in his absence. It pained Vara to leave him like that, but Thor was king here, and she was nothing but I highly regarded prisoner.

She helped Loki up the magic stairs and into the grand gallery. He flinched at the sun, closing his eyes and turning away. She saw him flinch and thought to repay a kindness he had shown her on Earth. She held out her free hand, creating a pair of sunglasses with her magic. They were out of the cell now, and she could use magic.

"It's dazzlingly bright in the open, compared to in there. It'll safeguard your eyes, until you become accustomed to the sunlight." She said, saying almost the exact thing he had said to her back in Paris.  
He reached out and grasped them, before forcing them over his eyes. He nodded to her, showing her that it was working.  
She nodded in response and began to help him up the steps to her room.


	32. Chapter 32

Every step was painful to him. She turned and watched him as he winced at every step he took up onto the next step, heading up to her room. She wondered if one of his legs weren't broken from one of the undoubtedly many beatings he had been given. It brought a tear to her eye to see him in pain and so broken.

"Let me carry you." She whispered to him, not wanting to cause him any more embarrassment in front of Thor or the guards that were following a few steps behind them. He shook he head quickly.

"No, I'm fine; just get me to the room." He whispered back to her.  
She bit her lip, holding back the words to urge him to let her help him, but thought better of it, just speeding up her steps to get him to the room quicker. They reached the landing soon and she rushed towards the room, before lifting her right leg and pushing the door open with it, her arms busy holding Loki up.

She rushed into the room, setting him down on the bed as quickly as she could. He sat down and sighed in relief, taking the weight off his legs. He pointed to a little button on the side of the mask and she reached up and pressed it, causing the mouth plates to separate. She then looked at his legs, looking for signs of a break but there was none. Just the normal bruising sustained from a fight.

But that didn't mean that his feet weren't broken. She bent down onto one knee and tried to wipe some of the dirt off but he winced at her touch. He looked down at her, kneeling at his feet

"The right one is the worst." he said to her as Thor and the guards walked into the door. Vara looked up at Thor and she had a hard time subduing her anger, but she had to. He had granted her a big favour by allowing Loki up here.

"It's okay; you don't need to be here. I'll make sure he stays put." She said, looking up at Thor from the ground.  
Thor nodded to her before bowing and taking his leave, closing the doors behind him.

Vara turned her attention back to Loki. She needed to wash the dirt off so she could see if anything was broken. She stood up and walked over to the next door wash room. She tapped out a bowl of water and brought it back into the room with a wash cloth. She knelt down beside his foot and dipped the cloth into the water, letting it soak before taking it out and ringing it out slightly. She then lifted the wet cloth to his right foot. She hesitated and looked up at Loki, breathing heavily on the bed.

"This is going to hurt, but I'll try and be gentle." She said to him.  
He nodded to her and grasped the sheets, preparing for the pain. She gently placed the cloth over the bridge of his foot and dragged it down towards his toes, putting little to no pressure on it. The weight of the cloth was all she applied. He winced but didn't scream, clenching his jaw to stop himself. She lifted the cloth off his foot and dipped it in the water again.

She repeated this several times, until she could make out the dirt she thought was still left was burns. It looked like the type of burns someone who had been struck with lightning had. The kind that left scars, scars that they would need to live with. She slumped her shoulders, sat back on her haunches and looked up at him.

"What did they do to you down there?" she asked him softly.

"Terrible things. Too many to remember. And the ones I do remember, are not fit for a lady's ears." He whispered to her, not looking up at her. She sighed and washed the cloth, moving onto the next foot. It too had been burned, but they were starting to heal already. When she was finished, the blood and dirt stained water in the bowl was sickening to her. She stood up, bowl in hand and walked back to the wash room, before throwing it down the marble basin. She set it down on the side and turned and walked back to Loki. He was sitting up on the bed now, looking at the damage done to his feet. She walked over and sat down beside him, noting now the difference between his clean skin and the rest of him.

"I'll help you wash later." She said to him.  
He looked at her and a smile broke over his chapped lips.

"Where is it?" he asked her, referring to the egg.  
She smiled, stood up and walked over to the window. Hidden in the blinding light of the sun, the incubator stood, absorbing light to keep it heated during the night. She wheeled it over to him and sat down beside him as he stared at the white egg with the blue tinge. He said nothing, just stared at the egg, as if he was trying to envision the creature that lay beyond the shell.

"It needs to be kept as warm as it would have been in my womb." She began to explain to her what she knew of the egg.  
"We don't know the gestation period, so we don't know how long it'll take to hatch." She explained a little more as he stared at it.  
He clearly recognised the markings on it, having seen his own markings.  
"The doctors have figured out a way to keep getting nutrients into it. See." She said, pointing to a clear tube off to the right of the incubator that fed into the shell with some of Frigga's magic.  
"It doesn't even know it's not in me." she smiled, looking at the egg herself.  
He finally turned and looked at her, pulling his attention from the egg.

"It's so big." He whispered to her, taking off his sunglasses and putting it on the bed behind him.  
She nodded to him, a slight smile on her lips.

"It was taking up my entire body cavity. I don't know how I missed it." she said, looking back at the egg, before breaking out into a soft chuckle.  
"I wonder what it could be." she mused, thinking about her future.  
"It was going to kill me, eventually, if the humans had kept me on Midgard. If I was a normal Fire Giant, it wouldn't have been a problem." She smiled, chuckling again.

Just her luck, she would have a child that was so big it would have ripped her apart if Thor hadn't brought her here. She turned and looked at Loki, and saw that he was hurting, emotionally this time. It could only have been what she said. Did he think he was responsible for almost killing her? She reached up with her hands and cupped them over his cheeks, making him look at her face. His ice blue eyes shone through the dirt and she could see the pain clearly in them.

"It's okay. This wasn't your fault. You didn't do this to me. We did this together. I'm as guilty." she said, seeing that nothing was working.  
"I knew full well what would happen to me if I slept with you. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon." She said, realising they had only been together a handful of times.  
"I was a willing actor, as you so happily pointed out." She tried to make him smile.  
This was a happy time. He was seeing their child for the first time. She didn't want him to be sad.

"You have changed my life so much." She said, looking at the egg.  
"When you landed on Muspelheim a year and half ago, I never would have imagined being here, with you and our child." She said, looking back at him.  
"It's not what I expected, but it's not bad." She whispered to him, leaning forward and kissing him softly on his sore lips. She pulled away slowly not wanting to tempt him into an encore of the prison encounter. As much as she wanted him, her heart wouldn't allow it just yet.

Finally, a smile played over his lips. Tasting her sweet hotness made him perk up slightly. He looked up at met her eyes. He lifted his hands and stroked her cheeks. She smiled, closed her eyes and forced a happy tear out. His touch was the drug she had been craving. She lifted her own hands and placed them over his, taking in the moment and enjoying it.

"I want to take you to my palace." He whispered to her.  
She opened her eyes and he wiped the tear away.  
"I don't want you and him staying under this roof." He said, looking to the egg.

"How do you know it's a boy?" she smiled at him.  
He looked to her, then the egg and smiled.

"I have a feeling." He smiled, and looked back at her.  
"Please move in with me." he begged her softly.  
She smiled, forcing more tears out. She nodded and leaned forward, hugging him as gently as she could, restraining herself.  
He hugged her back, and kissed her on top of her head. He pushed her off slightly, and looked down at her.

"I need to go speak to my mother and Odin. And Thor. About leaving the main palace and returning home." He said to her.  
She nodded to him.

"Let's get you washed up." She said, standing up.  
She moved the egg back into the sunlight and then came back for him. She lifted him up off the bed and they walked slowly towards the wash room.

She set him down on a chair in there and closed the door. She then walked over to the bath and tapped him a warm bath. She ran her fingers through the water, making sure it wasn't too hot for his liking. He watched her, lovingly tapping him a bath to wash the prison filth off. After all he had done to her, said to her, all she wanted was to please him, and take away his pain. Why didn't he see this sooner, he could have spared them both a lot of heart ache. She closed the gilded taps and walked back over him to.

"I need to take your clothes off." She said, kneeling in front of him.  
He smirked his witty and sexy smile.

"Go ahead." He whispered to her.  
She reached up and grasped the bottom of his once white shirt and gently pulled it up and over his head. She threw it into the basin to wash later. Now, in the light, she could see more bruises over his torso. New black and blue ones that must have been caused while she was up here, eating cakes, and older, yellowish and sickly green ones, busy healing. She reached out for one of his right ribcage. It was yellow, but looked different from the others. As soon as her finger tip touched it, he winced and backed away from her slightly, his face contorted in pain but he turned it away from her. She looked up at his face and saw a tear building in his eye. She felt it too, the sting of a tear ripping through her tear duct. She looked down at the ground, gently placing her hands in her lap.

"I'm sorry I surrendered." She whispered to him.

"I thought that they might have developed new weapons. As I told you." He whispered, his tear disappearing.

"Yes, but I thought we could still beat them." she said, looking up at him.  
He shook his head and looked down at her. He reached out to her and she looked at his hand, taking in the sight before looking up at his eyes. His eyes were healing slightly from all the pain he had been subjected to. She reached up and grasped his hand like a lady would with her lord. He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her hand gently.

"I should have taken you with me." he said to her, leaning down closer to her, despite the pain in his broken ribs.

"Then maybe we could have fought Thor together." She said, seeing him lifting his other hand of her cheek and rubbing it gently.

"Lost together, and tortured together. We could never have beaten Thor. Even together." He whispered to her.

"The things he's done to you, I can't even imagine." She said, shaking her head.

"He only played with his little lightning hammer, the guards administered the beatings." He whispered to her.

She put the thoughts of what he must have looked like during the worst times, out of her head and let go of his hand, trying to focus on the task ahead. She reached forward and grasped the top band of his pants, pulling them down slightly. But with him sitting down, she couldn't get them off. She then stood up and helped him to stand up, making sure he was steady on his feet before dropping her hands to his waist. She slipped his pants down and let them fall to the ground.

She then stepped back and looked at him. It was even worst when he was naked. The guards must have been cruel to beat him below the belt. He looked down at the ground, embarrassed and ashamed that he couldn't even defend himself. He was a god after all.

She looked up at his face and saw how he was hurting to see her reacting like that to him. She smiled and hid her tears for when she was alone. She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his naked torso as tenderly as she could.

"Bruises and broken bones heal." She whispered to him, kissing his cheek just above the strap of the mask.  
He turned and looked at her, holding him up at his side. He reached up and gingerly rested his right arm on her shoulders, bracing himself against her. She helped him over to the bath. She helped him get into the warm water and he sat down and leaned back, letting the warm water begin to sooth his aching body.  
After a few moments he felt water being thrown over him and he opened his eyes and watched as Vara began to bathe him.

"This is unlike you." He whispered to her.

"What?" she asked, soaking the cloth in the warm water and running it softly over his torso, his once highly visible abs barely noticeable now in this state.  
It looked like he had been starved as well as tortured.

"Sitting on your knees. I never saw it before today." He said, reaching out and twirling a lock of her hair in his fingers.

"I spent a lot of time on my knees on Midgard." She said, smiling at how weak she must have sounded to him.  
They were both just shadows of their former selves. But he saw something else into that sentence even though there was nothing there to be seen.

"Stark, I knew he would seduce you." Loki said, leaning his head back and sighing.

"What…" she asked and then she twigged on.

"No, nothing like that. None of them tried anything with me. They were all very accommodating." She said, dipping the cloth in the water again and this time, beginning to clean his legs.  
"As accommodating as a prisoner of war deserves." She said, looking at up at him, avoiding his burned feet.  
"None of them tried to seduce me. The time I spent on my knees, I begged, mostly." She explained to him.  
"They wanted to know how my body worked, and when they got tired of my explanations, they wanted to see for themselves." She went on.  
He lifted his head and looked at her.

"They poked and prodded. Needles and scopes I can handle, but when that guy sliced my arm open, I wanted to die." She said to him, mentally going back to that moment when the blade spilt her flesh. She stopped washing him and let herself feel the pain.  
He reached out toward her and touched her cheek with his wet fingertips, feeling her pain with her.

"My love." He whispered to her, somewhat exasperated.

"They broke my pride. They broke me. I was nothing but an alien lab rat to them." she said, before moving onto cleaning his other leg, hiding her tears yet again.

"I'm sorry I left you there." He whispered to her, sweeping a stray few hairs out of her eyes.

"Things got better after Natasha made demands on my behalf after the slicing incident." She looked up at him and smiled, remembering her friend.

"The woman with the red hair?" he asked her and she nodded, smiling up at him.

"She understood me. And Steve, he was a real sweetheart, making sure everyday that I was okay." She said to him, remembering him checking in with her every evening he was around.  
Loki was starting to realise that she had found friends on Midgard, friends that looked after her in his absence.

"Tony had the cell reworked so he would know if they took me out. He wanted to make sure I wasn't tortured again." she explained, smiling, grateful to the kindness she was shown.  
"But when it came to Laevateinn, all bets were off. They wanted me to use her, to show them how she worked." She explained.


	33. Chapter 33

Loki's eyes shot open. He lifted his head off the bath edge and looked at her. That was the legendary sword. If they had figured out how to use it, then they were all doomed. The Midgardians were very susceptible to overwhelming power.

"And did you?" he asked her.  
She shook her head, dipping the cloth in the water and grasping his normal hand softly, beginning to wash his arm.

"No." she whispered.  
"I couldn't wield her." she said, looking up at him.  
"To use her, you need to accept the truth in your heart, and after you left, I couldn't accept that you felt nothing for me." she said, tenderly placing his arm over his chest and torso, before moving onto the other arm.

"No matter how I begged them, they told me to lift her up, and every time, she shocked me." she explained.  
It brought a tear to her eye, her mother's weapon turning on her as if she was nothing. As if she was a man. She felt as if the betrayal was coming from her mother herself.

"Where is it now?" he asked her.  
She looked at him and rolled her eyes. She thought he was thinking about getting it back. Not that he had given any other reason to be interested in the weapon. It would one day be used to kill the Allfather. She would bet that he wanted to be the one to make the final blow against the man who took him from his home and lied to him his whole life.  
"I know I can't use it. I was just, curious." He said, leaning his head back on the tub, seeing what she was thinking but her less than subtle eye roll.

"Earth." She said, reaching around him and washing his back.  
He gasped and sat up, surprised by her hand, slippery and wet like an eel.  
"Sorry." She said, shrugging to him.  
He shook his head and smiled at her. She shifted closer to his side and began to wash his back.  
"Thor said he would bring it here, and put it in the vault." She said to him.  
"Seeing as I can't ever go home." She said sadly.

He looked sideway at her face, inches from her lips, his chin resting on his arm that was braced on his bent knee. He could see that she would miss her home. There, she was the most powerful being, and here she was nothing but a prisoner. At least she still had her magic. She had longed for so long to get away from Muspelheim, and now that she was, the thought of never seeing Central Volcano, her father or his Fire Lilly garden again broke her heart. But as least she was with Loki. Besides, they had tried for many years to get a spy into Asgard, and here she was, the snake amongst the lambs. She had to take in as much of this as she could, in case she needed it later in her life. She caught him staring at her and she looked up to meet his eyes, close enough to see the specks of gold in his eyes, close to the pupil.

"Asgard isn't so bad." He whispered to her.  
She nodded once, trying to hide her pain from him before she continued to try and wash the muck off his blackened hand. She wasn't able to tell what was dirt and what was dead skin.  
"Yes, there are rules, and guards, and Thor and my… family." He said, tilting his head as he listed the difficulties had he faced living in a realm where everyone feared you and what you might do in the future.  
He looked down at her again and smiled. He was glad that he didn't have to face said challenges alone now. He looked at her and saw her dedication to him. None of his other wives had ever washed him. They didn't even care that he was locked in the dungeon, rotting like a corpse. She was here, helping him, when he looked his worst, and was at his lowest.

"And most of the things you and I consider normal, they consider illegal here." he said to her. She stopped suddenly and sat back on her hunches to look at him.

"What… like what?" she asked him.

"The things I do to you to make you sing for me." he whispered, winking at her, a slight smile on his lips.  
She blushed and looked down at the ground, smiling. She then sat forward and continued washing him.

"Then we will just need to keep our exploits a secret." She smiled and looked at him.  
He looked at her, and saw how much she was trying to get used to living there. She was willing to give up everything she knew and embrace everything she had been taught to fear, to spend her life here, with him. He looked into the water and began to fidget with his good hand on his now clean knee.

"There's one more thing you need to know." He said to her.

"Mmm." She said, slightly ignoring his confession, engulfed in her task.

"I have… two… other wives." He said, looking into the dirty water.  
She stopped and looked at him. He couldn't bring himself to look at her now. It was if she had suddenly stepped into cold wastes of Jötunheim as the icy shivers than down her spine.

"What?" she asked him to repeat himself, as if she had slipped into the twilight zone for a few moments and missed what he had said.

"Two, other wives." He said, capturing just the part that mattered.  
He knew she was shocked, but he was afraid of what lay under that. He had none of his powers, and she had all of hers.  
She sat back on her haunches and looked at him. She knew he had been with other women, but she didn't know he was married. She breathed shallowly and looked around the marble floor, as if the answers lay there. He needed to explain further.

"The first is Angrboða. She's a Jötun too." He said, beginning to explain his twisted and intertwined love life to her.  
"I had three children with her. Hel, goddess of the underworld, Fenrir is the wolf you met down in the dungeons, Jörmungandr, the Midgardian serpent." He said, still not looking at her.  
She was shocked. He had this whole other life that she never even caught a glimpse of. He never showed her anything that would pertain to him being a father until Thor told her, let alone a husband to not only one but two women.

"And the second is Sigyn." He said to her.  
She was still reeling from the thought that he really was the father of monsters.  
"My son Nari, who was born human, but also ended up as wolf." He explained to her.  
She looked up at him and just stared at him from her haunches.  
"And I once had an encounter with a huge black stallion, and Sleipnir is the result of that encounter." He said, looking at her finally.  
He met her eyes and he could see she was confused.

"Stallion?" she asked him.  
He shook his head trying to throw her off. It was a time of his life he wouldn't like to relive, even in retelling it.

"Don't ask." He said to her.  
She got up off the floor and walked around, pacing angrily at the news.

"Then where are they, if they are your wives? Why aren't they here, helping you heal?" she asked him, turning angrily to look at him.

"We were never close. They do as they please, but in terms of the laws of Asgard, they are my wives." He explained to her, looking up at her fuming over this huge secret he had kept.  
"You never asked if I had other wives." He said to her.  
She was still pacing, and running her fingers through her hair, thinking about the shock of the truth. Until he turned this on her. Then she let her anger rise willingly.

"I asked you have you been with many women, that is when you should have told me." she fumed, looking at him but continuing to pace.  
He sighed and leaned back into the water.

"You've spent too much time on Midgard; you're sounding like those whining whelps." He said, closing his eyes and relaxing, resting his head on the back of the tub.  
She stopped and looked at him.

"Whining whelps… I'm whining now?" she asked him, stepping up to the side of the bath.

"I said you're sounding like them. Freaking out like this, it's a very human thing to do." He said to her, not opening his eyes. He was confident she wouldn't hurt him.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not an all powerful god… oh wait, NEITHER ARE YOU RIGHT NOW!" she shouted at him.  
He opened his eyes and looked over at her, not believing she went there.  
"You are just as human as me. And I think I have the right to freak out, YOU LIED." She shouted at him.  
Finally, all the anger that she had felt for him was beginning to come out.

"You never asked." He replied, sitting up and looking at her.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME!" she shouted at him.  
He sighed and looked down into the dirty water.

"I'm sorry." He said, looking up at her again.  
"I should have told you." He added, seeing her anger cool slightly.  
She nodded, and agreed with him.

"Yes, you should have." She said, sitting down on the floor again, slightly further away from him than before.  
"What now?" she asked him, looking up at him.

"Excuse me?" he asked, asking her in essence to elaborate.

"I was beginning to think that we could have this life together, but if you have other wives, where do I fit in with this, happy, family?" she asked him.  
He shrugged and looked ahead of him, studying the wall.

"I don't know if they are still living in my palace, which I doubt, but anyway, you would be my favourite. You would share my bed and my life." He said, looking back at her.  
She frowned and thought about what he said.

"Why do you think they won't be living in your palace?" she asked him.

"Angrboða always said the first chance she got; she was going back to Jötunheim. She hates the heat. And Sigyn doesn't like the rotating towers. She gets motion sickness. She even asked for a room without windows, so she would have to see the landscape spinning outside." He said to Vara, looking at her.  
"So it's probably standing empty now." he added, looking at her face.  
She was beginning to get it.  
"We can have a life together, but I fear it won't be what you deserve." He said, lifting his hand out of the water and grasping her hand.

"Why?" she asked him, squeezing his hand softly.

"My sentence is life." he broke the bad news to her.  
She looked at him, taking in the consequence of what that meant. All of it.

"So… you will never be free." She asked him.  
He shook his head.

"If I'm not in the cell, I'll have to wear this mask. And either is for life." he said.  
Being as close to immortal as Thor and Odin, there was no way out for him. She hung her head. She was partly responsible for the attack on Midgard, and she felt it was her fault his sentence was so long.

"I'll talk with Thor; there must be something I can do." She said, looking up at him.

"Thor, will probably offer you his hand in marriage in exchange for my release." He chuckled, thinking the worst of his brother again.

"Then I'll do it. You can't spend your whole life in chains, Loki. It's not right. I am just as responsible for the war as you are, why do I get 200 years and you get life?" she asked to him, squeezing his hand softly.  
He shook his head and turned to look at her.

"I have three wars to my name. And no, don't you marry him." He said to her.  
"Once married, there is no way out of it legally in Asgard." He explained.  
"If you take him as your husband, you can never have me again." he added to her.  
She looked at the ground. That was unacceptable.

"Okay, but there must be something else. I have to meet with them." She said to him.

"I'll go with you. I've always had a way with my mother. I believe she's the only person here who still loves me. If I can convince her, then she will plead my case to the Allfather and Thor." He said, beginning to move in the dirty water.

He moved his legs under him and began to stand up. She stood up and steadied him as he got out of the water. She wrapped a towel around him and went to go see if there was something for him to wear. She had heard someone come into the room earlier. On the bed was a pile of white clothes, folded up neatly waiting for him. She picked them up and walked back to the bathroom. She walked in to see him looking at himself in the mirror.

"I can't believe they did this to me." he said, looking at all the bruises and how starved he looked.

"I can imagine you didn't take your stay here lightly. Putting up a fight, I can imagine." She said, walking up to him and handing him the pile of clothes.  
"If a prisoner of mine fought back, I'd break him." she said, looking at him in the mirror.  
"No doubt you fought, so they tried to do the same to you." She said, wrapping her arm around his waist.  
"Did they succeed?" she asked, turning her head and looking at him.  
He chuckled slightly, smirked and looked at her.

"Hell no." he said, leaning his forehead to hers.  
She smiled and helped him back to the room. He got dressed and after they had talked about the game plan, they went to go see Thor and his parents.


End file.
